A Mudblood's Daughter and a Savior's Son
by RosexScorpius4ever
Summary: What if Rose and Albus befriend a Slytherin? What will happen? What will their fathers say? And Al with a thirst to prove himself? Takes place right after Deathly Hallow epilogue and is very canon. Rated T for safety!
1. Saying Goodbye and Saying Hello

**What if Rose and Albus befriend a Slytherin? What will happen? What will their fathers say? And Al with a thirst to prove himself? Takes place right after Deathly Hallow epilogue.**

**Disclaimer: **No, I absolutely do not own Harry Potter!

**A/N:** Just to go on record, I rarely use personal POV's, but I'm doing it since for this chapter the two aren't always together. You picking up what I'm putting down? Well I don't give a damn, haha, enjoy!

Chapter One – Saying Goodbye and Saying Hello

Rose's POV

"Mom, I want to go to Hogwarts too!" complained my younger brother Hugo. He was nine years old and he's 4'10'' of pure annoyance. He drives me mad! He always complains, takes my stuff, and complains! But I love him.

"Hugo, you'll get to go too in two years," soothed my mother Hermione. She had been trying to comfort him all day but it wasn't proving an easy feat. Hugo's like his dad in being super stubborn.

Hugo said, "Two years! That's so unfair!" I rolled my eyes. That's so like Hugo. No, that's so like Dad. From what I hear though, Lily was driving Albus up the wall. Al was my cousin and my _best_ friend. We did everything together including going to Hogwarts now. We knew we had to be in the same House or there was a good chance we would die.

My first choice for my House is Gryffindor. Second would be Ravenclaw. My mom said the sorting hat had considered putting her there and it was obvious I inherited her brains. Hufflepuff wouldn't be the end of the world. Slytherin is the last on my list for obvious reasons. One, there isn't a Witch or Wizard who hasn't gone badly in Slytherin. Two, the people there are cruel! And three, my whole family has been in Gryffindor and I'm pretty sure Dad would disown me if I was put in there.

Albus' POV

There's only one downside. James is saying I might be in . . . SLYTHERIN!

Autumn had arrived suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp as an apple, and we bobbed across the rumbling road toward the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. I WAS GOING TO HOGWARTS! I couldn't believe I was finally going to join James in going to school and get to leave home! Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but going to Hogwarts will be awesome and not just because I'm named after two of the best Headmasters. Our two large cages tattled on top of the laden trolleys our parents were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and our redheaded younger sister trailed fearfully behind us, clutching our father's arm.

"It won't be long, and you'll be going too," Harry told her.

"Two years," sniffed Lily. "I want to go now!" I rolled my eyes. Lily had been complaining for the past month since she realized I'd be going and she'd be home alone now. The commuters stared curiously at the owls as we wove our way toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, my voice must have drifted back to Dad's over the surrounding clamor; James and I had resumed the argument we had started in the car.

"I won't! I won't be a Slytherin!"

"James, give it a rest!" said our mother, Ginny.

"I only said he might be," said James, grinning at me. I scowled heavily. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slytherin." But James caught his mother's eye and fell silent. Us five Potters approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at me, James took the trolley from his mother and broke into a run. A moment later, he had vanished, leaving me irritable and worried.

"You'll write to me, won't you?" I asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.

"Every day, of you want us to," said Ginny.

"Not every day," I said quickly, "James says most people only get letters from home about once a month."

"We wrote to James three times a week last year," said Ginny. I snorted.

"And you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts," Harry put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother." Side by side, they pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, I winced, but no collision came. Instead, we emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. It was as amazing as it always was. I had been dreaming of it every night for the past week. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which James had already disappeared.

"Where are they?" I asked anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform. Rose and I had agreed we'd get on together, seeing as we only knew each other and James was off God-knows where.

"We'll find them," said Ginny reassuringly. But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud, I thought I head Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello . . . .

"I think that's them, Al," said Ginny suddenly.  A group of four people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when we had drawn right up to them.

"Hi," I said, probably sounding immensely relieved. Rose, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at me.

"Parked all right, then?" Uncle Ron, Rose's father, asked Harry. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confound the examiner."

"No, I didn't," said Aunt Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."

"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Uncle Ron whispered to Dad, as together they lifted my trunk and owl onto the train. "I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that." Back on the platform, they found Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger brother, having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."

"Ron!" Lily and Hugo laughed, but Rose and I were solemn. I wouldn't hold it against Uncle Ron to disown us.

"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione and Ginny, but Uncle Ron was no longer paying attention. Catching Dad's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist. "Look who it is." Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as I resembled Dad. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.

"So that's little Scorpius," said Uncle Ron under his breath. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains." Rose looked scared out of her wits.

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"You're right, sorry," said Uncle Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood." I snorted.

"Hey!" James had reappeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl, and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news. "Teddy's back there," he said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!" He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction. "Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked teddy what he was doing --"

"You interrupted them?" said Ginny. "You are so like Ron --" Rose and I laughed. We had heard many stories of the Trio and Ginny's schooldays.

"-- and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added as though worried he had not made himself clear. "

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Dad. "Why don't we just invite him to live with is and have done with it?"

"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al--Teddy could have my room!" Oh great, living hell here I come.

"No," said Harry firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished." Thank God!

He checked the battered old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's. "It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny told James as she hugged him.

"Mum! I can't give a professor love!"

"But you know Neville--"

James rolled his eyes. "Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love . . . ." Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at me. I was his favorite punching/kicking bag. "See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals."

"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!" but James merely laughed, permitted our mother to kiss him, gave our father a fleeting hug, then leapt onto the rapidly filling train. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends. "Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Harry told me. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scare about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats." Mom kissed me good-bye. "See you at Christmas."

"Bye, Al," said Dad as I hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you're learned how. And don't let James wind you up."

"What if I'm in Slytherin?" The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced me to reveal how great and sincere that fear was. Harry crouched down so that my face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, I had inherited our grandmother's eyes.

"Albus Severus," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Mom could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, "you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

"But just say--"

"--then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Really?"

"It did for me," said Harry.  He had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in my face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders, I jumped into the carriage and Mom closed the door behind me. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Dad.

"Why are they all staring?" I demanded as myself and Rose craned around to look at the other students.

"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous." Rose, Hugo, Lily, and I laughed.

The train started slowly moving and I waved goodbye to Mom and Dad. They waved back, and looked sad that another one of their children was leaving periodically. I'd see them again on Christmas though. Hogwarts here I come!

Rose's POV

The train was picking up speed and I continued to wave to Mom and Dad. I hated when Mom cried. It made me start crying too. I waved until I couldn't see them anymore. We turned the corner and they were gone.

"Come on, Rose," said Al. "Let's go find a seat."

I wiped my eyes and nodded. We walked down the length of the train and found a compartment with only one other person in it. It was the boy my father pointed out. Malfoy, was it?

"Hey, can we sit here?" asked Al. The Malfoy boy nodded. "I'm Albus, by the way. Albus Potter. And this is my cousin, Rose Weasley."

"I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," said Scorpius. He was quiet but seemed nice. Not like his father. He didn't have the same pointed face or the same platinum blonde hair. Instead, his face was more round and his hair had streaks of brown in it. I assumed it was from his mother's genes. I didn't know.

Al and Scorpius seemed to hit it off quickly. While they were "busy" talking about Quidditch, I took out my _Hogwarts, A History_ and read it for the umpteenth time. I finished it by the time we arrived there.

"Rose here is obsessed with reading," commented Al, changing into his robes at the last possible minute. "You'll pick up on that quickly." I glared at him.

"I like reading too," said Scorpius. "I've read and reread each of the course books." Al looked horrified. Looked like his buddy was just as studious as I was. I had an interesting year coming up when it came to testing.

"Come on, if we don't go we'll be heading back to London tonight," I said practically dragging Al out of the compartment. He was still in shock.

"I'm guessing he doesn't like to read," whispered Scorpius to me.

"Not at all," I whispered back. "In fact, he got his course books from Diagon Alley and buried them in the bottom of his trunk for the last month. Scorpius laughed and Al scowled at me. He never did like being the odd-man out.

"Hey Hagrid," we heard James say. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much," said Hagrid. "Firs' years! Firs' years over her'!"

"I hear he's half-giant," said Scorpius as Hagrid led us to the boats. I nodded.

"Yeah, his mother was a giantess and his father a wizard," Al said, hoping he knew something that we didn't. The amused Scorp and me to pieces.

"Watch ye step her'," boomed Hagrid. "Four to a boat!"

Al, Scorpius, and I got into one boat and were joined by another girl with blonde pigtails. She looked very shy and didn't speak for the entire boat ride. I noticed Al took an interest to her.

"Duck her'!" yelled Hagrid. We all ducked and just in time or we would have been eligible to join the Headless Hunt. James had told us that they come for the Halloween Feast.

We were in the boats for a couple more minutes and then they came to a stop. I looked up the castle I had only seen and read about in books. It's towers and turrets were amazing. I couldn't wait for Astronomy in the topmost tower. I heard it had a murky history though and hoped history wouldn't repeat itself.

Hagrid walked in front of us up the stairs and knocked smartly three times on the door.

"Her' are the firs' years, Professor Longbottom."

A/N: Please review!


	2. The Sorting Surprise

**Disclaimer:** Do I own Harry Potter? Nope, nada, zilch, goose egg. Haha, I got that from the Tail of Desparaux, which I read, in 3rd grade! Great book . . .

**A/N:** Shout out to mimimi213 for being my first reviewer! You rock! Thanks to Tabithatibi my best reviewer for basically all my stories who is the first person to story alert! You rock too!

**Another A/N: **I'm going to be showing the point of view of each of them as they put the hat on. Just telling so you're not confused.

Chapter Two – The Sorting Surprise

"Thank you Hagrid," said Professor Longbottom or Neville, as Rose and Albus knew him as. Professor Longbottom had been in the same year as Harry, Ron, and Hermione and had gone to the Yule Ball with Ginny. They knew this and still chuckled about it to this day.

"First years follow me," said Professor Longbottom. "Welcome to Hogwarts. In a moment you will walk through those big doors to your fellow classmates and will be sorted. There are four Houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now whilst you are here, your House will be similar to your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, while any rule breaking shall lose you points. Furthermore –"

"Tommy!" cried a boy. He had round cheeks and Rose recognized him from the platform. He ran up to grab his toad from in front of Professor Longbottom's shoe. Then he realized he had just screamed out and interrupted him. "Sorry." He retreated back again.

"Quite all right, you remind me of myself when I was your age," said Professor Longbottom smiling. "But I had a toad named Trevor and honestly I believe he hated me. But we can save that for another time, I'll go see if they're ready for you yet."

He left them milled in the hall nervous and chatter almost immediately broke out.

"Which House do you want to be in Rose?" asked Scorpius.

"Oh, I don't really mind," said Rose. "I suppose Gryffindor though since my whole family has been in there."

"What about you Al? Do you mind if I call you Al?"

"Not at all, everyone does," replied Albus. "I really want to be in Gryffindor, but my brother James says I might be in Slytherin."

"Do you want to be in Slytherin?"

"No!"

Scorpius laughed. "My whole family's been in Slytherin and honestly, I'd like to break the tradition considering all who did turned out to be Death Eaters."

Rose and Albus were surprised by this proclamation. They never expected a Malfoy to say he wouldn't like to be in Slytherin. And more, to say he'd like to break tradition.

Rose, who recovered first said, "I know you weren't the only person in your family to not be in Slytherin. Al's father's godfather Sirius Black was in Gryffindor. Also, Andromeda Black and Nymphadora Tonks weren't in Slytherin."

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I'd rather be like them than the rest." Before he could say anything else, however, Professor Longbottom came back.

"They're ready for you," he said grinning at their scared faces. "Follow me, you'll be fine."

He opened the doors with his wand and walked them down the Great Hall. All the heads turned towards them and Albus could see James staring intently at him.

They halted right in front of a mini step where above there was a ragged old hat. To a few of the first years' surprise, the mouth opened up and began to sing.

_Oh, so many years ago when I was newly sewn,_

_The four Houses lived in harmony without the clash of bones._

_Bold Gryffindor and Slytherin were the best friends anywhere,_

_And Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw always had been fair._

_But one day a dispute happened and the one House had decided,_

_That they no longer wished to say thus, leaving them all divided._

_Twas so sad, that once good friends would never be again,_

_And Gryffindor now had another problem on his hands_

_The other founders were growing old and knew they'd be gone_

_Who would choose where students went, thought Gryffindor forlorn_

_So he whipped me off his head and let me sort you all instead!_

There was a shocked silence and then deafening applause. Rose was impressed. She had heard from her father that the sorting hat had come up with impressive songs, but she had never known a hat could be that smart. For god's sake, it was a _hat!_

"Now, when I call your name," said Professor Longbottom, "you will come up and I will put the sorting hat on your head."

Rose looked sideways at Albus and saw he looked even paler than before. He never did like pressurized situations. She remembered once when they had gone to Uncle Harry's and Aunt Ginny's house one Christmas and James had been asking him questions he said he'd need to know for Hogwarts (lying of course) and Al had started sweating profusely. Aunt Ginny had gotten so mad at James. She started yelling so loud that Rose was sure that people in China heard. She thought it was pretty ironic that Uncle Harry had fallen for a redhead, who was smart and had a temper just like he said Al's grandfather had for their grandmother (**A/N: Sorry if that didn't make sense**).

Professor Longbottom was moving down the list quickly and before Rose knew it he had reached Scorpius Malfoy. Neville seemed to glare at the last name but brushed it off.

Scorpius jogged up with an air of nervousness and placed that hat on his head.

"Ah, another Malfoy," said the hat. "And yet, you're different from the rest. You'd like to be your own person."

"_You're damn right I would,"_ thought Scorpius.

"Hmm . . . you seem to have your father's temper though," said the hat thoughtfully. "But your mother's tenderness . . . you sure you don't want to be in Slytherin?"

"_What? Of course I'm sure! Aren't you supposed to know that?"_

"Well, excuse me, for trying to be polite and not read you like a book!" said the hat. "Hmpf, let's just sort you and get it over with so I can move on with my life."

"_Fine by me."_

"Hmpf, unlike those before you, I'm going to put you in . . . GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat.

There was a shocked silence where nobody spoke a word. None of the Gryffindor's had cheered, all too shocked by a Malfoy coming to Gryffindor.

It was only Rose, who wasn't shocked and started clapping for Scorpius. She nudged Al, who came to his senses and started clapping too. Slowly but surely, everyone else began clapping until it became deafening too.

Scorpius took off the hat and ran over to the Gryffindor table. James moved over to make room and as he sat, his eyes met Rose's and he mouthed, "thank you." She grinned and mouthed, "your welcome" before turning front again.

"Potter, Albus Severus," said Professor Longbottom.

"Did they say Potter?"

"Harry Potter's son?"

"Is he the last of the Potter's?"

"_Albus Severus Potter? _Hmm…weird name."

All these comments followed Al as he walked up numbly to the stool. He carefully sat down and the hat fell down over his face and to his nose.

"Another Potter? Man, you guys breed like animals," laughed the sorting hat. "Hmm . . . I sorted your father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, and brother. All Gryffindor's. But where to put you?"

"_Please not Slytherin, please not Slytherin,"_ thought Albus.

"Not Slytherin, eh? Like your father, you are."

"_He said that you take requests."_

"It is true," agreed the hat. "It is true that it is our choices, that show who were truly are, far more than our abilities. It is also true though that you have the qualities of a Slytherin."

"_Are you trying to tell me I should be in Slytherin? Because if you are you should tell me before you yell it out to the whole hall."_

The sorting hat said nothing.

"_Are you just not replying because you're hat and you naturally shouldn't talk or are you just being a jerk?"_

"Oh, for the love of God, just to get some peace and quiet I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR!" cried the hat. "God help them!"

Everyone laughed and applauded loudly, James the loudest. He stood on the bench and wolf-whistled.

"Hooray! He's not a Slytherin!" cried James and Albus grabbed him around the ankle and knocked him down. "OW!"

"Karma's a bitch," smirked Albus, sitting down next to Scorpius whom was laughing so hard he was crying.

Now Rose was all alone with a few other people. She inwardly cursed her father for having the last name beginning with a letter at the end of the alphabet. She couldn't just have her mother's last name?

Finally, Professor Longbottom called out, "Weasley, Rose."

Rose walked up, her legs shaking and feeling like Jell-O the whole time. She sat down on the stool and felt the hat drop over her eyes.

"Another Weasley," said the hat. "I've sorted too many of you to list. But you also have your mother's intelligence, not just your father's courage. You'd be perfect in GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table cheered as Rose took off the hat and ran down to join Scorpius and Al, her to friends in their new House.

"Welcome to another year of Hogwarts," said the Headmistress, Professor Lovegood (**A/N: I know she became a naturalist but I could think of anyone else and she seemed cool to do as Headmistress. I also let her keep her maiden name, peace**). "I will give the start of term announcements after dinner, but I have a few words I'd like to say to you. Wrackspurt, Rotfang, and Crumple-horned Snorcack. Thank you."

Rose and Albus knew Luna since she'd often come during the summer for Sunday teas at either of their parents' house. Therefore, they laughed and applauded with the other students who were either older and knew better than to question it or along with the other kids whom knew her as a family friend.

"Is she crazy?" asked Scorpius as the food appeared. It looked marvelous and Rose couldn't wait to try a little bit of everything. She had definitely gotten her father's appetite.

"Not at all," said Al. Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Well, not officially anyway." Scorpius laughed. "She's a family friend of ours. She was in my mother's year at Hogwarts but was kind of the odd one out. My mother stood up for her though. She is a little . . . eccentric."

"I'd say," said Scorpius, eyeing her. Rose suspected he was particularly eyeing the radish earrings and the butterbeer cork necklace that she had kept all these ears. Rose wondered if she still had her Gryffindor lion hat. She'd have to ask her after the feast if given the chance.

They spent the rest of the feast chatting amicably. When they weren't talking, though, they were stuffing their faces. Rose's mother was a very good cook, but Rose had never had such amazing food. Oh, but of course that's not including when they went over to their granddad Weasley's house and their grandmother cooked. The Hogwarts house elves were a close mark though.

Once the last of the treacle tart had finally been devoured, Luna stood up again to make her announcement.

"I'd like to say that the Dark Forest is strictly prohibited to all unless accompanied by a Professor," began Luna, her glance shifting to where James and his friends sat. They grinned and waved. "I think a few of our older students, like Mr. Potter would do good to remember that. Anyway, Mr. Sterling, the caretaker, would like me to remind you for what he says the 765th that dueling in the corridor is strictly prohibited. Anyone who decides to break that rule will be in detention and/or lose House points."

Rose knew right away that she would refrain from getting into any fights. She knew that she'd never be able to live with herself if she ruined her going-to-be perfect record. She also knew Al would jump at dueling the first day.

"All right, that's all, may you all sleep well and don't let the Wrackspurts get you!" cried Luna. Everyone laughed and the sound of thousands of benches scraping against the floor shook Rose out of her reverie. She was suddenly very tired and her eyes were itching from waking up so early today.

Scorpius yawned. "I could sleep forever and never wake up again."

"Me too," agreed Albus. "I wonder if we'll be in the same dorm."

"Probably."

The trio followed the Prefect up the changing staircases and to the common room.

"One downer of being in Gryffindor, you have to walk a lot just to get to your common room," said Scorpius, walking slowly into the common room.

"You get used to it," smirked James, walking past them with his friends. "Plus after a year here you drop about five pant sizes."

The trio laughed and had the vaguest suspicion that he wasn't joking.

"'Night Al, Scorp," said Rose, heading up the girls' staircase.

"'Night Rose," they both said, walking in their own direction to their own dorm.

Rose POV

I walked into her dorm and gasped. It was like a tornado hit and a satellite crashed mixed in one. There were clothes all over the room and people were screaming. Myself, being a neat freak started freaking out. But the side of me that also was part of a large family and used to loudness calmed down and walked over to my bed, hopping onto it like I was dodging hot lava.

"Get your stuff off my bed!" screamed a voice from the other side of the room.

"You don't own the room!" cried another voice, whom I assumed owned the clothes.

"We all share this room and you can't be throwing your garbage all over!" shrieked another voice.

"Can't we all be friends?" asked a quiet but defiant voice.

"You guys?" I said but everyone kept talking at once. "YOU GUYS? YOU GUYS!!!" The room fell silent. "Listen, whomever you all are, you're right, this is one room and the five of us or 500 by the looks of it are going to have to get along."

"Who died and left you in charge?" asked a snotty voice that belonged to the first girl who screamed.

"I never said I was in charge," I said coolly. "Just cool it, okay?"

"Whatever, just keep out of my stuff and stay out of my way and we won't have a problem," said the girl. "You picking up what I'm putting down? Good." The girl walked out of the room with the other at her heels.

"Geez, who's her mother? Godzilla?" I asked. She had never met anyone so nasty and cruel and that whole Godzilla crack . . . I wasn't kidding.

The girl whose clothes were scattered around the room laughed. "She might as well be. That's Miranda Richardson," said the girl. Her head popped out from under her bed. "Her father is Head of the Auror office and her mother is Captain of the Holyhead Harpies."

"She also thinks she's all that because her father is in the running to be the next Minister of Magic after Kingsley," said the quiet girl. She came out from her bed and smiled at me. "What's your name?"

"I'm Rose. Rose Weasley," I replied, extending my hand and shaking the girl's hand. "And you two?"

"I'm Jessica Thomas," replied the quiet girl. "I think our father's went to school together."

I racked my brains for a second before something clicked.

"Are you Dean's and Parvati's daughter?"

Jessica nodded and my smile increased.

"My name is Ashley Finnigan," said Ashley, also now getting up. She waved her wand and all of her clothes went back into her trunk. She shrugged. "I probably should have done that a while ago."

I laughed. "It's so ironic, that our parents would be friends and now here we are, also friends."

The other two grinned at each other and started laughing too. Not because anything was funny, but because they were friends.

Albus' POV

"'Night Rose," we said and proceeded in climbing up our staircase.

"You really like her, don't you Scorp?" I said, turning to face him grinning.

Scorpius froze mid-step. "W-What makes you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know," I mocked. "The way you laughed at all her jokes, the fact that you couldn't keep your eyes off her all night . . ."

"Okay, okay, I get it," said Scorpius, twiddling his thumbs. "Fine I like her. But please don't tell her!"

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Come on, would I?"

Scorpius smiled and we continued going up to our room. The whole situation was actually pretty humorous. That's why we kept laughing all night and annoying our roommates. It wasn't because anything was funny; it was because we were beginning to become close friends.

A/N: Please review! (I know I promised I wouldn't do more POV's but I wanted to show how they all adjusted the first night).


	3. Sharing a Schedule

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine. All of the characters belong to J.K.

Chapter Three – Sharing a Schedule

The next morning Rose woke up before everyone else and took a nice hot shower. She was naturally a morning person and knew the importance of getting up early to get a warm shower. It helped when you spent holiday's with probably close to 50 people.

By the time she got out of the shower though, Miranda and her friend whom Rose now knew as Miranda (what a coincidence) Roberts. They ignored Rose when she came out of the bathroom and went in too one at a time. Jessica was also up and must have taken a shower in another room because she was already washed. The only one still sleeping was Ashley.

"Ashley, wake up!" cried Rose, shaking her.

"No," moaned Ashley. "I don't want to go to class! I hate Mondays."

"No kidding," laughed Rose. "So does the rest of the World! I'm giving you three seconds to get up before I whip your ass."

Ashley snorted. "I'd like to see you try."

Rose shrugged. "I warned you. _Aguamenti!"_

Ashley shrieked and Jessica just laughed at their friend. She was now drenched head-to-toe in water. She jumped out of bed in a huff and pushed Rose aside, wringing out her hair. The bathroom was now vacant and she went in and slammed the door.

10 minutes later she came out done and they all rushed down to breakfast.

"Hey Al, hey Scorpius," said Rose, sitting down and buttering a scone. "Did we miss much?"

"No," said Albus. "Where were you guys?"

"Well, Ashley decided she wanted to sleep in today . . ."

"She dumped water on you didn't she?" said Albus, addressing Ashley. Ashley nodded shyly at Albus, which was very unlike her.

"Al should I know, every Christmas when my family would stay at his house I'd do that to wake him up," explained Rose. "Al is not a morning person."

"You're telling me," said Scorpius. "I practically had to club, sack, and drag him out of bed. He also hexes people in his sleep. I learned that the hard way last night."

Rose laughed and Scorpius looked pleased with himself. Just then, Professor Longbottom came around distributing the schedules.

"Here you go Rose," he said smiling. She smiled back and blushed. She had always had a little crush on Neville. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone. Scorpius seemed to realize though and glared at the Professor, not that Neville could care the slightest.

"What are your classes Rose?" asked Scorpius.

Rose scanned over her schedule. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, Double Potions, lunch, History of Magic, Charms, than Herbology."

"Cool! That's mine too," said Scorpius happily. Rose smiled and the two of them and Albus compared their other days. Turned out they all had every class together.

"Come on, let's go to D.A.D.A," said Al. "I hear our Professor is Professor MacMillan." Albus had heard stories of Professor Macmillan from his father. He had apparently been very pompous when they were in school and believed Harry to have opened the Chamber of Secrets. He couldn't wait to go to class and see if he was as pompous and his Dad led on.

They ran to class quickly and they were the first three there. Much to Al's annoyance, Rose demanded they sat in the front and Scorpius agreed with her. Looks like he was a bookish as he told them last night.

"Hello, looks like we have some with a thirst to learn in this class," said Professor MacMillan, turning around to face them by the blackboard. "I believe I went to school with all of your parents. Let's see, red hair, freckles . . . you must be Miss Weasley."

Rose nodded and shook the Professor's hand.

"Black hair and green eyes, you must be Harry Potter's second youngest," added Professor MacMillan. Albus nodded and also shook the Professor's hand. So far he seemed okay, but he still did have an air of pompousness in him.

"And let's see . . . are you Draco Malfoy's son?" asked Professor MacMillan. Scorpius nodded and shook his hand. "Yes, I went to school with your father as well. We were both Prefects of our own Houses. Still, I never expected a Malfoy to be in Gryffindor. Just goes to show you, anything is possible at Hogwarts." Leaving them thunderstruck, he turned back to the board to finish writing the assignment on it just as the remaining students drifted in.

"Welcome class," said Professor MacMillan, turning around again to face them all, "to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Be warned, in this classroom you might be facing your worst fears. But remember this, nothing can hurt whilst I am here."

Al held back a snort and caught Rose's eye. She grinned but turned her attention back to the Professor.

"Today we will only be taking notes," said Professor MacMillan. "Please turn to page four and read about redcaps and hinkypunks. Please answer the questions on page 10 after you're finished reading. If you finish that before class ends, what you can do next is on the board."

He sat down at his desk as everyone opened their books and watched them intently, seeing which students did as they were told and which didn't. Rose, who wanted to make a good first impression, opened her book and began reading with haste. As did Scorpius. Only 15 minutes into the class they finished the assignment and what was on the board. Rose raised her hand first.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" said Professor MacMillan surprised.

"I've finished with the assignment, sir," said Rose.

"As did I, sir," said Scorpius.

Professor MacMillan looked impressed.

"I trust you can tell me what a hinkypunk is and a redcap?"

"Yes, sir, a hinkypunk is a small, one legged creature that appears to be made out of smoke," explained Rose. "It carries a lantern that is used to lure unsuspecting travelers into bogs."

"And sir, a redcap is a small dwarf-like creature that lives in holes underground. They are found on the sites of old battlefields, or wherever blood has been spilt," explained Scorpius. "The Red Cap is extremely dangerous to lone Muggles, and will attempt to bludgeon them at any opportunity. Wizards can easily repel Red Caps with charms and hexes. They are mostly found in Northern Europe."

"Excellent! 20 points to Gryffindor," said Professor MacMillan ecstatically. "I can tell already you two are going to be my star pupils."

Rose and Scorpius flushed with happiness and gave each other a high five. They however stopped when they saw the look on Albus' face. He did not look pleased that he had been ignored.

"Sorry Al," said Rose quietly. Albus just shook his head and continued reading until the end of class. Once class ended, they ran off to the dungeons for Double Potions. They again found three empty cauldrons and sat in the front of class. Professor Finnigan taught this class. Albus thought that was pretty rich that he became a Professor considering his Dad had always had Seamus used to explode a lot of things. Either way, the three took out their supplies and waited for the instructions.

"Welcome class," said Professor Finnigan. "Your instructions are on the board. You have an hour to brew a boil-curing Potion. Begin."

The class ran to the student cupboard to get any ingredients extra that they needed. Rose was the only one who came prepared and began right away. She started the fire under her cauldron and dumped the correct ingredients in the correct order in. She made sure to add the correct amount of dried nettles, snakes fangs, stewed horned slugs, Porcupine quills, and Flobberworm Mucus. She made sure she didn't add the Porcupine quills until taking the cauldron off the fire. However, the toad boy, whose name happened to be Jacob Brown, must not have known this important fact and added it before taking it off the fire. This resulted in his cauldron melting and burning through his shoe, causing him to sprout painful looking boils. It gave off a horrid odor as well. Rose also made sure she read the board carefully and correctly, like Uncle Harry had warned her. She read and re-reads each line twice before moving on to the next line.

Even though she was moving twice as slow as everyone else, she was the farthest and by far had the best Potion. By the time class was over, Professor Finnigan was walking around observing the Potions and Rose was sure she had gotten an 'O'.

"Very good, Mr. Potter," said Professor Finnigan. "Your Potion is a nice shade of red. As is yours Mr. Malfoy."

Both boy's looked pleased with themselves and high fived. Next was Rose's turn for observation.

"Outstanding, Miss Weasley!" exclaimed Professor Finnigan and the whole class turned to stare. "Miss Weasley has by far the best Potion, class. It's a perfect shade of pink. Am I right in assuming that you heated it a little longer to get it that color?"

Rose nodded and turned as red as Albus' Potion. Having red hair didn't do her any favors.

"Excellent, yes, pink does make it a more effective brew," said the Professor. "Well done. Okay, bottle a sample of your Potion and bring it up to my desk to be graded."

Rose took a stopper of her Potion and corked it shut than vanished the Potion. She wrote her name on the label and handed it carefully to Professor Finnigan.

"All right, class dismissed," he said and they all headed to lunch.

"Amazing," said Albus. "Even when I manage to do well you still beat me."

"What can I say? I inherited my mother's brains," smirked Rose playfully.

"And she's humble too," joked Scorpius, earning himself a playful slap. They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor Table, Albus next to James.

"Hey lil' bro," said James, ruffling Al's hair to Al's great annoyance. "How's your first day of classes so far?"

"Okay," said Albus, swatting away James' hand. "Rose of course is already top of the class. What else is new?"

"Is she really?" said James impressed. "Nice job, Rose. Make sure you beat Al in all your subjects."

"Hey!" cried Albus as Rose and Scorpius laughed. "I'm your brother!"

"Do I know you?" teased James. He ducked as Al aimed a swat at him and continued talking to his friends.

"I can't wait 'til breakfast tomorrow," said Rose excitedly. "Mum and Dad said they'd write to me to ask how my first day was."

"Do you have an owl?" asked Scorpius, while eating his pork chop.

Rose nodded. "I named him Fred. After my Uncle Fred who died in the second war against Voldemort."

Scorpius nodded thoughtfully. "How about you, Al. Do you have an owl?"

Albus nodded too. "It's a female, I named it Hedwig Jr. after my Dad's snowy white owl he used to have. She died 19 years ago."

They spent the rest of their lunch discussing about owl names and teasing Al about how James was feigning acknowledging him. This annoyed Al immensely, but he was a good sport and played along for the most part.

Once they finished lunch they slung their bags over their shoulder and headed to History of Magic. So far, Rose had been enjoying her classes immensely. That ended once they got to class. Perhaps the only half interesting thing that happened was when Professor Binns entered through the blackboard. It was too bad he's a ghost; generations of students have to be tortured.

Rose took diligent notes though. Occasionally she looked up and noticed Scorpius was taking notes as well. He'd sometimes catch her eye and grin. It was nice to know she wasn't the only one trying to pay attention.

Albus on the other hand had a very glazed look on his face. He was playing with his quill and flicking pieces of paper at Rose.

"Do you mind _not_ flicking papers at me?" snapped Rose, whipping around. "It wouldn't _kill_ you to take notes."

"You never know," said Al grinning. "Besides, I can just borrow your notes when it's time for Exams."

Rose snorted. "And what if I say no?"

"Then I'll ask Scorp here," smirked Albus. "You won't say no, will you buddy?"

"Eh, probably," smirked Scorpius. Rose laughed and Al glared at the pair of them.

"It's only the first day of classes and already my friends are plotting my downfall," sighed Albus.

"All we said is you can't borrow our notes," pointed out Rose.

"Yes but you and I both know that History of Magic will be my downfall and it'll be all your fault. I'll be forced to live on your couch, eating your food, year after year . . ."

"Okay stop it!" cried Rose. "There is no way in hell that is going to happen. You want to know why? I'll tell you why. I'm not going to let you around my precious twins, Xavier and Alisha."

"Xavier and Alisha?" snorted Albus.

"In my dreams I have kids named Xavier and Alisha, okay?" snapped Rose.

Scorpius shrugged. "They sound like nice names. Better than _Albus,"_ he joked.

Al glared at him. "People always make cracks at the names of those who are powerful."

"But your not powerful," said Rose. "You're just named after powerful people. I mean, really Al, you're a first year, you haven't done anything spectacular yet, and you're mainly known because of your father –"

"Okay, thanks for that Rose," snarled Albus.

"No problem, that's what friends are for, Al," smirked Rose, turning around to take notes again.

"She has a point, Al," snickered Scorpius.

Albus mouthed, "traitor."

Their next class was Charms and was by far the best in Rose's opinion. Their teacher was Professor Holyfield was very pleasant and Rose felt she taught them a lot. Of course, all they did their first class was levitating feathers.

"Now remember," said Professor Holyfield, "the movement for levitating objects. Swish and flick. Repeat after me, swish and flick."

"Swish and flick," chanted the class.

"Also remember, to pronounce the incantation correctly," added Professor Holyfield. "It's Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o_-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long. Now in your pairs you try."

Rose was sitting with Ashley and Albus and Scorpius where at the table next to them.

"Wingardium Leviosa," drawled Albus, waving his wand. The feather didn't go anywhere.

"You're saying it wrong," said Scorpius. "Remember, you have to say the 'gar' nice and long."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" cried Ashley, waving her wand like a raving lunatic. "Wingardium Leviosa! Damn it! It's not working."

"Careful, careful," said Rose. "You're going to poke someone's eye out. "Plus, you're saying it wrong too. It's Levi-_o_-sa, not Leviosaaa."

"You try it then," said Ashley irritably.

Rose cleared her throat. "Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o_-sa!" She waved her wand and the feather twitched than began flying. She kept inching it further up. The whole class was staring now. She was the first one to master the spell.

"Oh, well done Miss Weasley!" said Professor Holyfield, clapping happily. "Well done! See class, Miss Weasley's done it. 5 points to Gryffindor. Well done, dear –"

KABOOM! Apparently, in his haste to prove he could levitate a feather too, Albus exploded his. His hair was now tinged as well as his face.

"I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor," whispered Scorpius, whose face was half tinged.

Their last class of the day was Herbology. After the excitement though in Charms, Rose was disappointed to leave. After Albus had exploded his feather they took notes for the rest of the class, much to everyone else's annoyance. Nobody was more upset than Al though. He had been outshone in all of his classes. Rose had pointed out though that he had done fine himself and just because he might not be the best doesn't mean he wasn't good himself. That made him cheerful again and that's why you would catch him talking amicably all the way down to the Greenhouses.

"Oh, we'll get to see Neville!" squealed Rose excitedly.

"Oh yes, your not so secret crush," smirked Albus.

Rose blushed but rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Al, he could be my father. I do _not_ have a crush on him."

"Sure you don't," said Albus but he dropped it at Rose's glare.

"Come on in to Greenhouse one class," said Professor Longbottom.

"Hello Ne – I mean Professor Longbottom," said Rose grinning.

"Hello Miss Weasley," smirked Professor Longbottom. "How has your first day been?"

"Excellent, I love all my classes, except maybe History of Magic."

Neville nodded understandingly. "I doubt anyone could say it was their favorite class. I don't think Professor Binns even likes it himself."

Rose laughed and went over to join Ashley, Scorpius, and Albus at one of the stations.

"All right class," said Professor Longbottom. "Today we will be talking about Devil's Snare. Now, can anyone tell me about Devil's Snare?"

Rose's hand shot into the air automatically. Scorpius' shot up a second after.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" said Professor Longbottom smiling.

"Devil's Snare is a plant with magical properties. Its power is the ability to constrict or strangle its surrounding environment. Struggling or resistance to Devil's Snare will cause the plant to exert a greater force of constriction. It also prefers to be in dark and damp places as opposed to sunny places. It cannot stand light or fire."

"Very good, Miss Weasley!" said Professor Longbottom. "10 points to Gryffindor. Now today, we will not however be working with Devil's Snare. Instead, we will be identifying different species of fungi."

All in all, Herbology was pretty interesting in Rose's opinion. She enjoyed observing different types of fungi and ignored Al's complaining about how he was bored. By the end of class, her and Scorpius combined had earned Gryffindor another 20 points.

As they walked up to the castle for dinner though they talked about their lessons and a little less to Albus.

"Hey, you know there is a third person here," cried Albus indignantly. "Just because I don't care what you're talking about doesn't mean you have to ignore me."

"I'm sorry, Scorpius, can you hear something?" asked Rose.

"Why yes, dear Rose, it's an annoying buzzing sound," laughed Scorpius. Albus stuck his tongue out at him.

"Apparently a very _mature_ bee is amongst us," said Rose, as they walked into the Great Hall and sat down.

"You'll rue this day, Rose Weasley," threatened Albus. "You'll RUE it!"

"Who's going to rue this day?" asked James, sitting opposite of Scorpius.

"I am," said Rose simply.

"I see," said James. "Am I right in assuming you beat this boy whom I have never met in all of your classes?"

"Yes, you'd be right to assume that," nodded Rose.

"Very good, very good young grasshopper."

"Young grasshopper?" snorted Scorpius. James turned to look at him.

"Don't judge me."

"Too late."

"I always knew I wouldn't like you," he teased.

"Touché."

"This kid is good," said James, high fiving Scorpius. "You can take lessons from him, Rose."

"I'm still here you know!" cried Albus, who was now resting his forehead in the palm of his hands. James ignored him and he began banging his head on the table.

"Oh, honey don't do that," said Rose. "You'll lose any remaining brain cells you have."

"Gee thanks," said Al, rubbing his head.

"No problem."

That night in the common room was a quiet one. They didn't talk much due to the heavy load of homework they had. It was only when they heard a tap on the window did they look up from their work.

"Fred!" cried Rose, running to the window and opening it to let him in. He swooped in and landed on her shoulder, nipping her ear affectionately. "I guess Mum and Dad didn't want to wait until morning."

_Dear Rosie,_

_How was your first day sweetie? How are you in your classes? Are you beating young Scorpius Malfoy? How's Al doing? Tell him and James we said hi and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny say hi to you as well. How's Neville doing? We also heard that your D.A.D.A teacher is Ernie MacMillan and your Potions teacher is Seamus Finnigan. Have you made friends? Are you staying __far away__ from boys? (This is your father) You better not be snogging boys like your Aunt used to. Oh, Ronald, don't be so ridiculous (this is mum, sweetie). She's a young lady and she knows what's right from wrong. Are you saying she should be snogging boys? I'm saying is that you shouldn't be bringing her aunt into this. You're not answering the question! Anyway, sweetie (your mum again) have a good first week and learn from us, never to use Quick Note Quill when your husband is in the same room. I heard that!_

_Lot's of love,_

_Mum and Dad_

Rose laughed at both of her parents. This was so like them. She showed the letter to both Albus and Scorpius. They both laughed too, but Scorpius seemed lost in thought.

"What's up, Scorp?" asked Rose though she had a pretty good idea.

"Your parents don't like me do they?" he said quietly. It was more of a statement than a question.

Rose hesitated. "It's more of my dad who can be a stubborn prick. He's – he's never quite gotten over his schooldays with your father. I think he's just assuming you're like him. But of course, I know your not!" she added hastily, seeing his expression.

"Thanks Rose," said Scorpius, packing his bag and getting up. He hugged her. "I'm going to go to bed." He walked up to his and Al's dorm but Albus stayed down with Rose. He stared at her until she took pity on him and looked back.

"Is there something you'd like to say?" she asked.

Albus grinned. "Oh, nothing."

"Well, it's obviously got to be something since you look like its Christmas."

Albus' grin got wider. "It's just . . ."

"Yes," urged Rose.

"Scorpius likes you!" Al blurted out. Rose choked even though she wasn't eating or drinking anything.

"He likes me?" said Rose thunderstruck. "No, no, no, you must be mistaken. We're just friends."

"Maybe to you but not to him," said Albus, wiggling his eyebrows. Rose felt slightly nauseated at him.

"Al, why are you telling me this? Even if it was true, wouldn't Scorpius be upset?"

Albus blanched. Rose was right. He had promised Scorp that he wouldn't tell Rose anything and he just broke that promise. Damn.

"Er . . . you like me right?"

"Yeah?" said Rose confused.

"For my sake, can you not mention any of this to Scorpius?"

"Al –"

"Please Rose! I promised I wouldn't say anything to you and it just slipped out! Well, technically it's your fault –"

"Whoa! How's it my fault?"

"You made me tell."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did."

"NO."

"YES."

"All right, this is stupid," said Rose, getting up. "This will obviously go on all night and you should really learn how to keep a promise." She got up and walked out of the room, leaving a confused Albus with his guilty thoughts. Little did they know though that a certain blonde haired, round faced boy had heard the conversation from the top of the stairs. He sighed and walked crestfallen into his dormitory where he was supposed to be.

A/N: Please review!


	4. Like Her Mother

**Disclaimer:** Yes, I do own Harry Potter. Oh wait, that was a dream.

Chapter Four – Like Her Mother

When Rose went up to bed that night she wrote a letter hastily to her parents.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_My first day was great! I love my all of my classes except History of Magic. I told "Professor Longbottom" that and he agreed also saying that he doubted Binns even liked it. Yes, I'm beating Scorpius Malfoy in all of my subjects but . . . you're not going to be too thrilled I bet with this next part. He's friends with Albus and me and is in Gryffindor too. Please don't send me a Howler! Al's doing fine too. Trying to deal with being under the same roof as his brother, but I guess it helps that they barely see each other except for meals and in the common room. Please tell Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny I said hi too. Neville is fine. He seems like he really enjoys teaching. Yes, Seamus and Ernie are teachers and did you know Luna was the Headmistress? I was so shocked when I saw her and she still has her radish earrings and butterbeer cork necklace! I've made some other nice friends. They're actually the daughter's of Seamus and Dean. Their names are Ashley Finnigan and Jessica Thomas. They're really nice and it's good we became friends because we have two really stuck-up girls in our dormitory. Well, one really, the other one is kind of like her crony. The main one's name is Miranda Richardson and her friend's name is Miranda Roberts (how ironic). Ashley said Miranda Richardson's father is Head of the Auror Office and next in line for the Minister of Magic after Kingsley and her mum is Captain of the Holyhead Harpies. Could you ask Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny if this is true? Thanks. Yes Dad, I am staying __far away__ from boys, don't you worry. From what I hear from Aunt Ginny though you were a bit of a hypocrite in your 6__th__ year. Not saying anything else :D. Thanks for your letter and I will have a great first week and I'll try to remember that piece of advice for later in life._

_Lots of love,_

_Rose_

It had taken a long time to write it and Fred almost plummeted to the ground when she threw him out the window. After that she washed up, brushed her hair, and went to bed. She fell almost immediately to sleep except for the few minutes she was thinking about what Albus had said last night.

Rose woke up though the next morning fairly well rested and ready for another day of class. She slid down the banister from the girls' dormitories and saw Albus waiting for her.

"Hey Al," she greeted. "Where's Scorpius?"

Albus shrugged. "He said he'd be down in a bit but to go on without him."

Rose found this peculiar but didn't question it and walked to the Great Hall with Albus. When they walked in they sat down with Ashley who had come early today.

"Hey Ashley," said Albus grinning. He always had a goofy grin on his face when she was around.

"Oh hey Albus," giggled Ashley. "Oh, look! The owl post!"

She was right. The owls were swooping in and in the midst of them Rose spotted Fred and Hedwig Jr. seeing as they were the only snowy white ones.

"Oh dear," gasped Rose. It turns out that her Dad had blatantly ignored her requests in her return letter. There was a bright red envelope in Fred's clasp.

"Hey look! Weasley's got herself a Howler!" cried Miranda number 1. Rose glared at her and looked hopelessly at Albus who was grimacing. All of a sudden it looked like a light bulb went of in his head.

"Take it off his leg and open it Rose," he said, taking out his wand.

Rose did as she was told and opened it up.

_ROSE HERMIONE WEASLEY!!!"_ roared Ron's voice. Rose winced at everyone staring at her, but before her Dad could say anything else Albus muttered something. The Howler kept mouthing words but no sound escaped it.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Rose. "You defeated the Howler!" Everyone was gobsmacked, especially the teachers. Never in their time at Hogwarts had they ever seen someone defeat a Howler.

"How'd you do it, Al?" asked James, patting him on the back.

"Oh, you remember me again do you?" said Albus coolly.

"Oh, come on, you knew I was kidding," said James anxiously. "How'd you do it? I need to know because . . . well, I think mum will be sending me one today."

"Sorry buddy, I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you," teased Albus. He enjoyed seeing his brother in pain. It suited him well.

"Man, I wonder what Dad said anyway," sighed Rose. "Looks like I'll be hiding behind mum for the rest of my life."

"Can I hide behind Aunt Hermione too?" asked James. "Because after today I don't think I'll be able to face my mum."

Rose laughed and noticed Scorpius walk in looking forlorn. It didn't suit him.

"Hey Scorp, what's wrong?" asked Rose. Scorpius didn't say anything but pointedly ignored Rose.

"Hey Scorp, did you hear Rose?" asked Albus confused.

Scorpius ignored Albus too.

Rose and Albus exchanged a look of confusion.

"Scorpius, what's wrong?" repeated Rose. She didn't like being ignored. Not one bit.

Scorpius looked up sharply. It alarmed Rose.

"Nothing Rose," he snapped. "Nothing at all is wrong."

"What's your problem?" asked Rose. "Did I do something?"

"Not you, it was mainly your pal Albus here," snarled Scorpius. Albus looked alarmed at being in the middle here.

"What did I do?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know," mocked Scorpius. "How about last night? You two in the common room? Did I come up in conversation at all?"

Comprehension dawned on Albus and he blanched.

"Scorp, I didn't mean to –"

"Oh, yeah that's right. Rose made you."

"Don't bring me into this!" cried Rose. "If it's anyone's fault it's yours!"

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"You trust Al enough to tell him you liked me!"

The whole hall went quiet and Scorpius was turning redder by the minute.

"I thought he was my friend! Apparently I was wrong!" he yelled.

"YOU'RE THE ONE NOT BEING A FRIEND!" shrieked Rose. "ACTING LIKE AN ASS-HOLE! YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T EVEN GOING TO BE THERE! YOU CLAIMED YOU WERE GOING TO BED!"

"I'M SORRY THAT I OVERHEARD YOU! HOW RUDE OF ME! NEXT TIME I HEAR MY NAME CROP UP IN A CONVERSATION I'LL IGNORE IT!"

"YEAH, MAYBE YOU SHOULD SO YOU DON'T GO OFF AT THAT PERSON WHO HAPPENS TO MENTION YOU!"

Both "friends" were red faced and furious now. Rose's, having inherited it from her father, ears were now extremely red.

Scorpius on the other hand, being pale like his father, had a pale tinge of pink in his cheeks.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!" yelled Rose.

"YEAH! FRIEND! THAT'S ALL I AM TO YOU RIGHT? JUST SOME PERSON BARELY WORTH YOUR TIME!" screamed Scorpius. He knew he was overreacting and was aware that the whole Great Hall was watching, but he couldn't stop now. Rose looked livid and Albus looked scandalized. It was too late to back down now.

"WELL, HERE. I'LL LEAVE YOU SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ME BY!" cried Rose; her eyes were filling up with tears now. _"Avis!"_ Birds shot out of her wand and began attacking Scorpius.

"OW! Get it off – what the – Rose!" he yelled but Rose was already gone. She had run out of the hall and took the girls' bathroom.

"You did deserve it," said Albus simply. The hall gradually began talking again about what just happened. Albus sighed, taking pity on Scorpius, and vanished the birds.

"Thanks," said Scorpius quietly. "Oh, and Albus, I'm sorry about yelling at you before. I didn't mean it and I overreacted."

"Yeah, you did," said Albus. "And I accept your apology but I'm not the one who needs to be apologized to. I'm fairly certain there's a red haired girl in the bathroom, crying about what just went down."

Scorpius hung his head. "I know. I think I should probably let her cool off a little though. I already have enough scratches on my arms from her. Where'd she learn that anyway?"

Albus snorted. "Her mother. She is so like her mother it isn't even funny."

Scorpius laughed uncertainly and sat down depressed.

"She hates me, doesn't she?"

"Er – the truth?"

Scorpius groaned.

"Don't worry Scorp. She's a girl, they hold grudges for a while but when they forgive you they go all out. She'll forgive you eventually."

Scorpius nodded glumly.

"Oh! By the way, do you want to come with me to visit Hagrid on Friday during our free period?" asked Albus. "I've already invited Rose and hopefully you guys will have made up by then."

Scorpius nodded. "Okay, why not? It'll be cool to meet Hagrid. Come on, let's go to class."

The rest of the week went by a bit unpleasantly. With Rose glaring coldly at Scorpius in all of their classes, and Scorpius looking hopeful, Albus was getting seriously pissed. He had learned from his father that when two friends were fighting, don't get involved and spend as little time speaking. That way, you stayed friends with both of them. Following this piece of advise, Albus was surprised that he didn't lose his voice due to lack of use. The fact that they have every class together didn't help either. It actually made it worse, if that was possible.

When Thursday came around however, Scorpius decided it was time to try and gain her forgiveness. If he didn't do it now, he'd never get it and he also wanted all three of them to go to Hagrid's tomorrow.

"Hey Rose," said Scorpius that afternoon at lunch.

She ignored him and continued sipping her soup.

"Rose, please talk to me," begged Scorpius. "Make a noise, a sound, even a hand gesture would be okay."

Rose flipped him the middle finger. Scorpius winced.

"I think that was the best you could hope for," said Albus. "Honestly, you did ask for a hand gesture. You set it up for yourself."

"Please Rose, I'm sorry! I know I totally overreacted on Tuesday, but I couldn't help it!" cried Scorpius. "I was so mad that Al told you . . . what he told you and I took it out on you. I know it wasn't your fault and I knew it then too. Please forgive me."

Rose turned and looked at him. She knew she was being stubborn and she should forgive him now, but it was very hard. She got her stubbornness from both of her parents. She knew they used to fight for weeks, but she couldn't wait that long to forgive Scorpius. Plus, she wanted to go with him and Al to Hagrid's tomorrow afternoon.

Rose sighed. "Fine, Scorpius. This time I'll forgive you, but you better hope that you never cross me again."

Scorpius laughed uncertainly. Rose laughed too and leaned over to hug him. She hated fighting with people, no matter how much they may deserve it. Hate made you ugly. That's what the Miranda's excuses were.

So Friday afternoon the three trekked through the mud as a result from the rain last night, to Hagrid's house. They knocked on the door and as it opened a big boarhound bounded on Albus, almost knocking him down.

"'Ello Albus, Rose," greeted Hagrid, pulling Fang off Albus. It seemed like it didn't matter how old Fang got, he would never lose his energy. "Come in, come in. Oh, and who's this?"

"Hagrid, this is Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," said Albus. "He's in Gryffindor and a friend of ours."

Hagrid looked surprised. "Wow, I never thought I'd see a Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy friends. Come to think of it, I never thought I'd see a Malfoy not in Slytherin."

"Yeah, I've heard," said Scorpius. "I guess I'm different."

"You're right, you have some personality," said Hagrid with a smile. Scorpius smiled too and Rose and Albus roared with laughter.

"So, how's yer first week of 'Ogwarts?" asked Hagrid. "Do you like yer classes?"

Albus, Scorpius, and Rose explained all about the ups and downs of their first week. They also said how they were doing in classes and answered on how their parents were doing. Hagrid seemed to know each of them.

"I have to say, yer parents Rose and yer father Albus were the most meddlesome I've ever met," laughed Hagrid. "Knew more than most of the staff at 'Ogwarts. Hope you don' give 'em a run fer they're money. Then again, you do kind of look like the Golden Trio and from what you've told me about this week yer sound like them."

Albus, Scorpius and Rose exchanged a look. They knew they'd have to have their own adventures to live up to Albus and Rose's parents' names.

"So, would you like to stay fer dinner? I'm making potatoes," offered Hagrid.

"Oh, sorry Hagrid," said Albus quickly. "We can't stay tonight. We have too much homework this weekend. Professor MacMillan assigned a lot."

"Oh, that's okay," said Hagrid, clearly disappointed. "Well come back anytime to visit. I'll see you three later."

They all bid goodbye to Hagrid and started up to the castle again. They hadn't had anything since lunch and all Hagrid had offered were rockcakes, which they respectfully declined.

"I'm starving," moaned Rose. "How come you didn't want to stay at Hagrid's? He looked crestfallen."

"No offense to Hagrid or anything, but my father said he is a horrible cook," explained Albus. "Unless you'd like to eat potatoes with bogey's in it, I suggest you try as little as you can to stay at Hagrid's for dinner."

Rose looked slightly nauseated and Scorpius had turned a delicate shade of green.

"Well, I think I've lost my appetite," said Scorpius.

"Ha, I haven't," said Rose, digging into a little bit of everything. "I'm a Weasley, I could never lose my appetite."

"Imagine, that'd be what you could be living with for the rest of your life," whispered Albus to Scorpius. Scorpius elbowed him, causing Rose to look at him puzzled. He just shook his head and began nibbling at a carrot stick.

A/N: If you can guess the spell Albus used to quiet the Howler send it in through review and I'll dedicate the next chapter to you. Thanks and please review!


	5. Soccowhodawhatawitz

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own it. How sad.

**A/N:** This chapter is dedicated to Tabithatibi for correctly answering what spell Albus used to silence the Howler. Silencio! That's right, I silenced all you people who are either complaining or rolling your eyes at me right now. Onto the story!

Chapter Five – Socco-who-da-what-a-witz

The first week of Hogwarts was finally over for Albus, Scorpius, and Rose and they were all relieved. Not only did they do well in their classes by Friday but on Monday they were having their first flying lesson.

"Are you guys trying out for the House team next year?" asked Rose during breakfast in the Great Hall on Saturday.

"Definitely," said Scorpius excitedly.

Albus shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know, Al?" cried Rose. "Your father, grandfather _and_ brother were and are still to this day, amazing Quidditch players."

Al shrugged again. "But that's just it. I don't know if I'll be as good as them. What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You won't make a fool of yourself," said Scorpius. "It's in your blood."

Rose nodded and they ate the rest of the time in silence, all lost in thought about trying out for the Team next year.

Rose was glad no one asked her about if she wanted to though. Ever since she was old enough to pick a lock, she's been sneaking out of her house after dark and practicing on her father's Firebolt. Occasionally when they'd go to Uncle Harry's and Aunt Ginny's she'd sneak out and try a few different brooms since Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and James had their own.

No one knew she did this though. Not even her Mum, who knew everything about her. Everyone thought she had as little interest in Quidditch as Hermione did but this wasn't true.

"Rose? Rose! ROSE!" cried Scorpius, waving his hand in front of her face. "You still with us?"

"W-what? Yeah, of course!" said Rose, coming back to reality. "Hey, I have an idea. You two stay here."

She ran out of the Great Hall, ignoring the two's confused faces and up to the common room. In there she sprinted up the steps to her dorm and went over to her trunk. She dug through it until she found a soccer ball that her Mum had gotten her for her 9th birthday. Her Mum had been a Muggleborn and knew all of the different Muggle sports.

Rose ran back out of the room to the surprise of those in the common room. She ignored their shocked looks on their faces and ran back to Scorpius and Albus in the Great Hall.

"What in Merlin's pants was that about?" asked Albus surprised to see her back so quickly. "You just ran out like a lunatic without explaining anything – what's that in your hand?"

"It's a soccer ball," explained Rose. "Come on, let's go out to the Quidditch Pitch, no one will be practicing today."

Rose grabbed both of their wrists and pulled them out of the Great Hall. They walked down the steps leading to outside and down to the Quidditch Pitch.

"So what is this socco thingy?" asked Scorpius.

Rose laughed. "It's called soccer and it's a Muggle sport. There are two times, kind of like Quidditch in that it has seven people on each team. Twelve of the people kick around the soccer ball and on each team there's one goalie. The goalie blocks the goal and tries to prevent the other team from scoring."

"Sounds simple enough," said Al. "But how are we going to play? It's only the three of us."

Rose checked her watch. "Well, I gathered some people together. Muggleborns who also know how to play and a few people who are Purebloods who haven't played before so it's even."

As if right on cue, the people Rose had just mentioned came down to the pitch. There were eleven of them. Five were Purebloods and six were Muggleborns. Rose didn't know all of their names but only knew them from class and they had agreed to come.

"Hey guys," greeted Rose. "I've already explained to all of you that don't know soccer what we're doing and now I've just got to split you into teams that are equal."

They all nodded and waited for her to continue.

"Okay, on my team we'll have obviously me, Aly - Muggleborn, Albus – Pureblood, Jeannette – Muggleborn, Alex – Pureblood, Charles – Muggleborn, and Briana – Pureblood," said Rose, counting off five. Aly, Jeannette, Charles, Alex, Briana and Albus walked up to her and each gave her a high five.

"Now, on Scorpius' team –"

"YAY! I get my own team!" cried Scorpius, jumping up and down.

"Quiet, you," said Rose grinning. "Anyway, on your team it'll be you – Pureblood, Phyllis – Pureblood, Jamie – Pureblood, Alice – Muggleborn, Lindsey – Muggleborn, Emily – Muggleborn, and Marissa – Muggleborn."

They all went over to Scorpius and gave him a high five too.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Rose.

"YEAH!" chanted her team.

"Are you guys ready to pummel Rose's team?" asked Scorpius.

"YEAH!" chanted his team.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be?" said Rose amused. "All right, team! LET'S DO THIS THING!"

They all cheered and ran to get ready in the changing rooms. Once changed, Rose's team were all wearing blue uniforms with a big, bright red rose on the back. After them came Scorpius' team. They had green uniforms on with a big, bright red scorpion on the back.

"How ironic is it that the two team captains would be able to use their names to their advantage," teased Albus. Rose and Scorpius both stuck their tongues out at him. "Oh gee, how mature."

"Come on team, let's go," said Rose. "Albus, you go in the goal, you have pretty good dexterity." Albus nodded. "Okay, Aly, Alex, and Briana, you all play defense. Those are the people who stay around the goal and try to block the offense on the other team from getting past you. You're kind of like the backup to the goalie, the last resort before them."

The three nodded and walked off to where Albus was.

"Okay, Jeannette and Charles you're going to be on offense with me," continued Rose. "Scorpius you're going to have to choose whom goes where on your team."

Scorpius shrugged and sorted his team to their positions randomly. He understood the game alright, but he was still a bit puzzled.

"Scorpius and me can kick it off," said Rose, smirking at Scorpius. "That is, if he can handle it."

"Oh, it's on!" cried Scorpius. "You're going down!"

"Sure, and . . . begin!" yelled Rose. She kicked the ball before Scorpius could and began making her way up to the other side where Emily was in the goal. She dodged defense and scored a goal, just barely making it.

"Woo hoo!" cried Rose. She stuck her tongue out Scorpius who was glaring playfully at her. "Sure you want to keep playing?"

"Hell ya!"

Emily threw the soccer ball and Marissa bounced it off her head and began making her way to Rose's side. However, before she could get past defense, Aly kicked it away from her and passed it to Charles. Charles made his way over to where Rose was standing waiting and passed it to her, which she kicked into the goal. They high fived and it kept going this way for another half an hour.

Seven hours later at 5:00 PM they were still playing the same game. Rose's team was now winning, 38 to 0. Their team was now getting seriously tired since they were doing all the winning and knew it was time to quit soon.

"Time out!" cried Rose. Everyone stopped moving. "Okay guys, I think it's time to call it a night. Besides, I think Scorp might want to leave with a little dignity."

"Hey! We did okay!" cried an indignant Scorpius.

"Oh, give it up, Scorpius," said Lindsey. "We suck. We got destroyed."

"Fine, if you want look at it in a pessimistic point of view," teased Scorpius. "I still had a good time for my first time playing."

"Man, Albus you're a really good goalie," complimented Alice. "I've been playing soccer ever since I was three and I couldn't get one shot past you."

"Thanks," said Albus grinning. "It was cool, even though I've never played it before I felt like I've played it all my life."

"Come on, if we go now we can all take a shower before dinner tonight," said Rose, picking up her soccer ball. "Good game guys."

After the three showered and changed, they all met in the common room and then headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"We so kicked you ass today," teased Rose.

"Hey, you don't need to rub it in," groaned Scorpius.

"We know, but it wouldn't be fun winning if we didn't," laughed Albus.

"You know Al, I'm starting to think that I should shove you down Moaning Myrtle's S-bend."

"Only if you're willing to go into the girls lavatory."

"Damn, I knew there was a set back."

Rose and Albus laughed and sat down with James and his friends.

"Where were you guys all day?" asked James angrily. "You disappeared after breakfast and I haven't seen you since."

"It's not like we hang out with you, why do you care?" asked Albus.

James narrowed his eyes. "Because if something had happened to you I could guarantee that Mum and Dad would blame me."

"True."

"So where were you?" asked James impatiently.

"On the Quidditch Pitch," said Rose, helping herself to some corn. "I got my soccer ball and us along with some other first years were playing soccer."

"Playing socco-who-da-what-a-witz?"

"Honestly James, don't you know the soccer is a Muggle sport played with 7 people to a team, one as a goalie?" reprimanded Albus.

Scorpius snorted. "You didn't know 'til this morning."

"Neither did you."

"Damn you."

"Anyway," continued Rose. "We played from 10 AM to 5 PM and then called it quits. My team beat Scorpius' 38 to 0."

Scorpius groaned again. "Must you mention our pathetic defeat to _everyone_?"

Rose feigned thinking hard. "Well . . . seeing as you failed miserably . . . yes, I'm afraid I must."

Scorpius threw some carrots at her, which due to her practicing Quidditch in secret, she ducked skillfully in time.

"Damn Rose, when did you get such fast reflexes?" asked James impressed.

Rose thought fast. "Intuition."

"I'm going to pretend I believe you."

"You do that."

"I feel so left out!" complained Albus.

"Were you on Rose's team?" asked James.

"Yes. I was goalie and never missed a goal."

"Hence the score 38 to 0."

"ARRGGH!"

"Okay, I'll acknowledge you again," amended James.

"Gee, that makes me feel so warm inside," said Albus dryly.

"It was meant to."

Albus rolled his eyes and continued eating.

"I don't think he's too fond of James at the moment," whispered Scorpius to Rose.

"No shit Sherlock."

A/N: Sorry it's short but I felt I should just end it here. Please review!


	6. The Deathly Letter

**Disclaimer:** Yo no poseo Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter! Can anyone say it in another language? If you can I'll use it in the next chapter and quote it from you! :D

**A/N:** Regular CAPS is Ron and italicized CAPS is Hermione. You'll understand soon enough.

Chapter Six – The Deathly Letters

Their first month of school was coming to a near close but not on a very happy note. Ron, apparently not impressed by Rose's lack of response to his letter, by the time October came around sent another Howler. Unfortunately for Rose, who didn't know the spell Albus had used to silence the letter, got it one day when he wasn't at breakfast (he had slept in and Scorpius hadn't bothered waking him up).

"Oh Merlin," gasped Rose. The owls came flying in and there distinctly was Fred, flying in with a red envelope.

"Sorry Rose, this is all my fault," said Scorpius upset. "If I hadn't been –"

" –if you hadn't been what? Friends with me?" asked Rose, narrowing her eyes. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. This is just my father being prejudiced and assuming you're mean like your father was to him."

Scorpius nodded and watched fearfully as Rose opened the letter delicately.

"ROSE HERMIONE WEASLEY!" yelled Ron's voice like it had last time. "HOW DARE YOU NOT RESPOND TO MY LETTER! AND HOW DARE YOU BE FRIENDS WITH A MALFOY! I FORBID YOU TO TALK TO HIM AND HAVE ASKED YOUR COUSIN JAMES TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ASSOCIATING WITH HIM -! _RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY ARE YOU SENDING ANOTHER HOWLER TO OUR DAUGHTER?_

Rose shank lower on the bench. Soon Scorpius could only see her forehead and ears, which were both red.

_DO NOT SEND HER ANYMORE LETTERS NOW! CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW EMBARRASSED SHE IS? SHE DID INHERIT YOUR EARS TURNING RED!_ HERMIONE, SHE'S ASSOCIATING WITH A MALFOY! _I DON'T GIVE A DAMN __WHOM__ HER FRIENDS ARE AS LONG AS SHE'S HAPPY RONALD, AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU!_ HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT HIS FATHER USED TO CALL YOU IN SCHOOL? _NO RONALD! IT'S A LITTLE HARD TO FORGET THAT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. _ALL I'M SAYING IS – _I GET WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, AND YOU BETTER GET WHAT I'M SAYING. NO MORE SENDING LETTERS TO OUR DAUGHTER._ Yes Ma'am._ Good, have a good day sweetie and don't worry, you won't be getting any more letters._

The letter ripped itself to pieces and landed on the table, in front of Rose's food. Just then Albus came in.

"So, what'd I miss?" he asked. Rose took one look at him and smacked him on the head.

"Rose got another Howler today," said Scorpius mournfully. He was as pleased with the contents of the Howler as Rose was.

"Ah, that'd explain the _throbbing headache_ I now have," snapped Albus. "I'm sorry Rose. Come to think of it I thought I heard Uncle Ron's voice from the common room."

Rose groaned and Albus shifted guiltily.

"Great, the whole school will be talking about this now," moaned Rose.

"Oh, Rose that's not true," consoled Scorpius. Just then a group of third year Hufflepuff's past them.

"Did you hear that Rose Weasley's father? Nasty temper, he's got," said one curly haired one. Rose moaned again and laid her head in her arms just as James sat down.

"YOU!"

"ME!" cried James. "I swear I didn't do it!"

"Guilty conscience, eh?" said Albus.

James shrugged. "I'm just trying to get ahead of the game."

"Ah."

"Never mind that," growled Rose. "Have you spoken to my _darling_ father lately?"

James blanched. "Er –" he turned to Scorpius and whispered, "what are the chances she'll believe me if I say no?"

"Not great," replied Scorpius.

"Er – yes?"

"And you agreed to make sure I can't _associate_ with Scorpius?"

"Nope!"

"But that's what he –"

"Did I ever tell you the Master of Loopholes was Uncle George?"

"No."

"Well, he is," said James simply. "And here's the most basic one. Uncle Ron told me to make sure I don't let you associate with Scorp and said, "Do you hear me?". So I said, "Yes, sir, I hear you."

"So?" said Rose not catching on.

"Well, Rose, isn't it obvious?" said Scorpius grinning. "James said he heard him, meaning that he literally _heard_ him. That didn't mean he was going to follow through with it!"

Rose paused for a second. Then without warning her frown turned into a big grin.

"James, You're brilliant!" she cried, hugging him.

"Don't act so surprised," pouted James.

"Why? It's not everyday you're smart," smirked Albus, dodging the kick that was aimed at him. "You're going to have to do better than that."

James narrowed his eyes and knowing what was coming, Albus got up and ran around the Great Hall away from him. James got up and chased after him to many people's amusement.

"Run Albus! Run!" chanted Scorpius and Rose. (**A/N: The point was it to be like, "Run Forest! Run!" I don't care if they're Wizards**)

The whole Hall was now cheering for either Albus or James, excluding the Slytherins and the teachers who tried to look serious, but failed dismally.

"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME POTTER!" cried Albus, running past the cheering Ravenclaws.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK POTTER!" yelled back James. "BUT I HAVE A WAND!"

"_EXPELLIARMUS!" _cried Albus. James' wand flew out of his hand and he cursed at his stupidity. "NOT ANYMORE YOU DON'T! THANK YOU DAD!"

The Hall laughed at the proclamation and at James' expression of mingled fury. It was only when a Slytherin decided to stick out his foot that Albus fell and slid across the floor to where the teacher's sat. James, not seeing him go down, tripped also on the same Slytherin's foot and fell on top of him.

"Oof!" cried Albus from underneath him. "James?"

"Yes?"

"Can you get off of me?" (**A/N: Like Sonny with a Chance! Once again, I don't care if they're Wizards!**)

James laughed and got up and helped a laughing Albus up too. They both bowed and the whole Hall applauded, including the faculty. Everyone needed a little excitement now and again.

"That was wicked," said Rose, laughing hysterically.

"Well, thank you for that assessment Miss Weasley," said Albus solemnly. "How'd you like it Scorp?"

"It was bloody brilliant," laughed Scorpius. "Looks like I know not to cross either of you in a Dark Alley."

All four of them laughed and went on with eating their breakfast.

With Halloween approaching, rumors were soaring like a wild fire. The rumor that Professor Lovegood had gotten mistletoe with Nargles in them made many older girls giggle with anticipation when boys passed them in the hallway. Another rumor was that she was continuing the tradition of hiring dancing skeletons for the Great Hall and floating pumpkins were to be hung up by Professor Flitwick, who had recently retired but had come back to visit and help Professor Holyfield. Rumor has it (another one, I know!) that Professor Flitwick was a great dueler in his day and everyone was anxious to meet him, having heard stories from their parents.

One day as well, Albus, Scorpius, and Rose were walking in the corridor to Charms when they saw a patch of forest roped off.

"What's that?" Rose had asked Professor Finnigan who happened to be passing.

"Professor Flitwick approximately 21 years ago roped it off, considering a very good piece of magic by Fred and George Weasley," explained the Professor. "It's supposed to be part of a swamp. I believe both Weasley's are your Uncle's. Well, George is at any rate now." He hung his head in memory of Fred and had walked off without another word.

Albus had been so curious about it, he decided to write to his Mum and Dad and ask about it.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_Professor Finnigan said Uncle Fred and George had made a swamp in the middle of the hallway approximately 21 years ago. Why did they do this?_

_Albus_

He sent this off with Hedwig Jr. and waited impatiently for a reply. During his time waiting though he pissed off both Rose and Scorpius immensely.

"When will they reply?" moaned Albus.

"Al, I swear, if you ask that one more time I'll hex your nose off," threatened Rose and Scorpius nodded vigorously. Albus had blanched and said nothing more on the subject.

Finally, the long awaited response came the day before Halloween.

"Look it's Hedwig Jr.!" cried Albus, jumping up and down.

"Careful Al, you don't want to wet your pants," teased James. Albus stuck his tongue out at him and continued bouncing excitedly.

"If anyone ask we don't know him," said Rose loud enough for Albus to hear.

"Agreed," said Scorpius grinning. Albus threw his bacon at him. "Looks like you're not eating today."

Right on cue that food disappeared.

"Damn you." Just then he caught the letter in midair and ripped it open with haste.

_Dear Albus,_

_Sorry we haven't been able to reply sooner sweetie. We've been very busy trying to entertain Lily. She's been complaining a lot about how she wants to go to Hogwarts. It's understandable and your father claims I did the same thing so I'm not one to judge. Anyway, yes, in your father's fifth year and in my fourth, Uncle Fred and George created a swamp in the middle of the hallway. They did it to annoy Dolores Umbridge aka (as your father claims) the toad from hell. I'll explain it more to you when you come home for Christmas._

_Have a good Halloween honey and tell James to behave,_

_Mum_

_P.S. Dad says hi!_

Albus laughed at the postscript and showed the letter to Rose, Scorpius, and James.

"Why does she say that to everyone who's around me whom she write to?" asked James.

"Because she knows you better than you know yourself," said Albus matter-of-factly.

"He's right you know," commented Rose.

"Quiet you."

"I can't wait to hear about Dolores Umbridge," said Albus excitedly. "I wish it was Christmas."

"The other day you said you wished it was Halloween," laughed Scorpius.

"Yeah, well – that was then and this is now."

"Oh, really? I don't think it works that way, Al."

Albus stuck his tongue out again.

"Your maturity shows more and more with each passing day," teased Rose.

"I know right."

Halloween morning dawned cloudy and rainy. When Rose looked outside her window next to her bed, she could see the mud, sliding down the hill to the Herbology greenhouse.

"We're going to have to trek through ankle deep mud today," groaned Ashley as the three got dressed.

"Better than ankle deep snow," said Rose.

"Not necessarily," replied Jessica. "The mud will get all over our shoes and we'll never hear the end of it from Ashley."

Rose laughed and slid down the banister like she did every morning. Once down the usual two that always waited for her greeted her.

"Hey Rose," said Scorpius first this morning. "Ready to get soaked today?"

"Oh, totally," said Rose, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Then tonight I'll get to hear about how Ashley's shoes got ruined and blah, blah, blah."

"I heard that," said a voice from behind them. She turned and saw Ashley and Jessica.

"You were meant to," teased Rose. "Anyway, I can't wait for the feast tonight. I also heard going around the school that there's going to be a party tonight, of course, only for those third year and above."

"What a shame," said Albus, mocking disappointment. "How will we ever survive?"

"Shut it," growled Rose, smacking him somewhat playfully on the arm.

"We should sneak into the party tonight," suggested Scorpius. "It'll be fun."

"What?" cried Rose. She wanted to go but not enough to risk getting in trouble or losing House points. "We'll get caught for sure and will either get detention or lose House points!"

"Oh, you're so like your mother," smirked Albus. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to go so badly to this party."

"Yeah, but not enough to get expelled!"

"Oh, come on, we wouldn't get expelled," snorted Scorpius. "Maybe a stern warning and a few points off but –"

"I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want or need the hole House hating me," said Rose dryly.

"Come on Rose, live a little!" cried Albus, sitting down on the end of the bench. "Rules were meant to be broken!"

"Rules were meant for the welfare of society and are certainly _not_ meant to be broken!" exclaimed Rose. "If we sneak into that party –"

"Shh, keep your voice down," implored Scorpius.

Rose whispered, "if we sneak into that party not only will we get into trouble but they'll probably write to our parents -"

Scorpius blanched, trying hard not to imagine the look on his father's face if he got a note about him. He hadn't even told him he was friend's with a Weasley and a Potter yet, that's why he hadn't gotten a Howler as well.

"-and I don't know about Scorpius' parents but if our mother's found out . . . well, I don't think we'll ever be the same again."

Albus knew this was true but it didn't stop him from wanting to break the rules and go.

"Well, I'm going, whether you're coming or not," he said firmly. "Are you coming Scorp?"

Rose looked at him sternly and Albus looked at him hopefully. He sighed. "Yeah, I'm in."

Rose glared at the pair of them. "Fine, if you're both going then I'm definitely going."

"Yes!" cried Albus, pumping his fist in the air. "We're all going –"

"Where are you going?" asked James, sitting down across from Rose.

The trio exchanged a look nervously. They couldn't risk anyone knowing about their little excursion. Then again, maybe James would let them borrow his Marauders Map.

"Should we tell him?" whispered Scorpius.

"No!" cried Albus. "He'll want to come."

"But we need the map," whispered Rose. "It's worth it if we can have it."

"I'm still here you know," said James but they ignored him.

"I'll tell him," whispered all three. "No me! Not you!"

"Ugh, fine. Rose you tell him," said Albus grudgingly.

Rose looked up again at James to see him eyeing them with interest. Apparently the wanting of the map captured his attention.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something right now but you have the super secret swear that you won't tell anyone," implored Rose.

James nodded but Albus shook his head. "Make him do an Unbreakable Vow."

"Are you crazy?" cried Rose incredulously. "Do you have any idea how much trouble we could get in?"

"Of course I do," said Albus nodding. "But we're not taking any risks here. This is James we're talking about keeping a secret."

"True," agreed Rose and Scorpius. "Come with us."

Rose got up and led the three to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Okay Rose," said Albus. "Hold James' hands and I'll point my wand at your wrists."

"Do you swear to give us the Marauders map and not tell anyone you are doing so?" asked Rose, looking into James' eyes.

James hesitated. "I will."

One snake came out of Albus' wand and wrapped itself around their wrists.

"Do you swear that if you do come with us you won't tell anyone?"

"I will."

A second snake came out of the wand and wrapped itself over the first.

"And finally, do you swear that if we are caught you will not blame us if asked who was responsible?" asked Rose.

James hesitated again but sighed. "I will."

The final snake wrapped itself around their wrists and light burst out, bonding them together. (**A/N: Sorry if it wasn't exactly like that but I tried to remember as best as I could**) Finally, once the light had gone and so had the snakes, they let go of each other's wrists, James looking rather unhappy.

"Fine, I'll give you the Marauders Map but what is it you're doing anyway?"

"We're sneaking to see what the party will be like tonight," replied Rose and James looked thunderstruck.

"That's why I had to make an unbreakable vow? So you could sneak into a party that is for third years and above?"

"Yup," the trio nodded.

"Wow, go to hell, all of you," growled James. He turned on his heel and swept out of the bathroom.

"I think he took that rather well," said Albus happily.

After the feast ended (which was spectacular by the way), all first and second years were ordered to go up to their common rooms, while third and above stayed where they were.

Albus, Scorpius, and Rose all went up to the common room so people could say they had been there. Once up, Rose went up with the other two to their dorms so Albus could get the cloak.

"It's kind of unfair isn't it?" commented Rose. At his questioning look she elaborated. "I mean, James gets the map and you get the cloak. What does Lily get?"

"The joy of watching her other brothers have fun and wishing she wasn't the youngest," smirked Albus, digging the cloak out from the bottom.

"You are so mean," said Rose. "No wonder both Lily and James hate you."

"Flattery will get you no where."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's put the cloak on and meet James in his room.

Albus threw the cloak over them all and they made their way to the second year dormitories. When they opened James' door a crack, they saw him sitting on his bed alone with the map out and open.

"Boo!" whispered Albus and James jumped.

"Don't do that!" cried James.

"Like I said, it's a wonder why both him and Lily hate you," smirked Rose.

"Plus at the age of three he managed to short sheet me," snorted James. Rose gasped and Scorpius howled with laughter.

"Come on, get under now," said Albus, lifting the cloak so James could fit. "God, it's going to be hard with all four of us."

"Tough."

They made their way down the boys' spiral staircase and into the common room crowded with first and second years, which were either talking or playing exploding snap.

"Aw, I wanna play," moaned James.

"Go then, no one's stopping you," said Albus. "It's not like you could tell them where we're going."

James sighed and continued walking with them. They opened the portrait hole and ignored the Fat Lady's calling out "Who's there?". Instead, they just kept walking down the changing staircases, taking caution to jump when necessary, and in five minutes had made it to the Great Hall.

"Whoa, it's amazing," sighed Rose. "I wish we could go with permission."

She was right, it was amazing. There were floating pumpkins everywhere and skeletons were catering the party. It also looked like the Headless Hunt had been called and were playing 'Pin the tail on the Head.'

"So what are we going to do, go in?" whispered Scorpius in Rose's ear.

"Yeah, I guess," shrugged Rose. "Come on, let's get closer."

They inched their way through the party, careful not to trod on anyone and cause panic. They even risked going over to the punch bowl to get a drink.

"Oo, ickle ghostie drinking punch?" cackled Peeves from behind them. "Or is it a troublesome firstie breaking the rules?" They turned in horror to face him and didn't say anything. That is, until Albus did.

"Peeves, I have my reasons for being invisible tonight," croaked Albus, sounding uncannily like the Bloody Baron. "I'm avoiding someone in particular."

Peeves turned white. "Y-yes your B-Bloody Baroness, sir. Have a good t-time." He zoomed off in fear to find someone less intimidating.

"That was awesome, Al," cried Rose. "That was the most impressive impression of the Bloody Baron I've ever heard."

"I'd beg to differ," said a voice from behind them. They spun around and came face-to-face with none other than Professor MacMillan.

A/N: Sorry for ending it, I almost continued then decided to stop. Can't have too much of a good thing now, can you? At least Remus would agree. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and please review!


	7. Detention

**Disclaimer:** I own a computer, a phone (which sucks by the way), but I do NOT own Harry Potter!

Chapter Seven – Detention

"_I'd beg to differ," said a voice from behind them. They spun around and came face-to-face with none other than Professor MacMillan._

"You can take the cloak off, I know it's the two Potter's, Miss Weasley, and Malfoy."

They pulled off the cloak, shaking in fear. Rose automatically turned to James.

"Don't look at me! I'm alive and well aren't I?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Professor MacMillan sharply."

"N-nothing sir," stammered Rose. "He just means that –"

"- He had nothing to do with you knowing it was us," finished Scorpius. Albus slapped his palm to his forehead.

"Did you make an unbreakable vow so he couldn't tell anyone?" asked Professor MacMillan dangerously.

"Well, I can't say anything," said James automatically. Albus smacked his forehead with his palm.

"Really James? Really?" hissed Albus. "You're some kind of idiot."

"Don't judge me."

"Oh, I can promise you that I'm judging each and every one of you," said Professor MacMillan. "Come with me to my office now."

He began walking out of the Great Hall with them at his heels. They were each thinking the same thing. How much trouble were they going to get in? Rose was shaking in fear. She had never gotten in trouble a day in her life and did not want to start now.

"In," said Professor MacMillan. The four walked into his office. It had different posters all over the wall. Some of the pictures were of the current subjects they were studying in class and others, Rose assumed, were from older classes that the Professor taught.

"Sit," ordered Professor MacMillan. They looked around and sat down in the seats that hadn't been here a moment ago.

"I am without a doubt, shocked at you four," began Professor MacMillan. "I would have never imagined three first years and a second year would have the austerity to make an unbreakable vow. I don't even know how you knew about it and I'm not sure I want to."

Rose hung her head. She hated it when people didn't yell but talked instead in an upset voice. Scorpius was feeling the same way. Albus and James on the other hand were neutral. They had gotten in trouble plenty of times before and could honestly care less.

"So, can someone other than James tell me the reason you were at a party that you weren't even invited to?" asked Professor MacMillan.

No one said anything. They either looked at their shoes or just ignored the question.

"No one wants to fess up? I could always get Professor Lovegood."

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think Professor Lovegood is a figure representing fear," said Albus.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, it is," said Albus cheekily.

Professor MacMillan opened his mouth to retort but then closed it again.

"Fair point, but that still doesn't justify what you did."

"We know, sir," said Rose solemnly. "We acted stupid."

"Yes, yes you did. Therefore, I'm giving you detention tomorrow night and 50 points from Gryffindor."

"50!" cried James and Albus.

"Each." The gaped shocked at him.

"Sir, that's a cruel and unusual punishment," cried Albus.

"Well, maybe it'll help you in deciding whether to do something extremely stupid next time," said Professor MacMillan. "Now go to your dormitories, now."

They sighed and got up. Their House was going to be furious tomorrow.

They were right. Gryffindor was furious that a couple of first years and a second year had lost them 200 points, most of which Rose and Scorpius had gotten in class. No one was more disappointed than Rose though. A letter had been sent home to their parents and they were not pleased. All of them thought this was rich though considering their parents had lost as many points, even if not all for one House, in their first year.

Their parents weren't amused though when they responded saying that. Well, only James replied saying it because only he had the nerve to. Aunt Ginny got so furious she sent 50 Howlers the next day yelling at James. Albus "accidently" missed breakfast while it was happening and wandering in minutes after nonchalantly. James was not impressed. They did have one thing now that was fun. Quidditch lessons.

"Hello class," said Oliver Wood on their first flying lesson (**A/N: He could have done it after retiring from Quidditch!**). "Welcome to your first flying lesson. Everybody step to the left side of your broom."

All the first years scurried as not to be last in following instructions.

"Now, put your right hand over your broomstick and say very clearly, 'UP'."

"UP!" chorused the class. Rose's, Albus', and Scorpius' brooms came up immediately. The others brooms in the class just kind of wiggled and twitched on the ground. Some went as far as halfway and then kind of lost their spirit and plummeted.

Rose felt someone staring at her and turned to see Albus giving her a questioning look.

"What?"

"How'd your broom come up so fast?" he asked.

Rose shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "Quidditch runs through my veins?"

She was glad that Albus dropped it and ignored the look Scorpius was now giving her. He knew something . . .

"Okay class," said Professor Wood. "Firmly place yourself on your broom now, you don't want to be sliding off the back. Trust me, it's happened."

The class gripped their broom now (those who finally managed to get it in their hand) and placed themselves firmly on it.

"All right, on my whistle, kick off and hover for a few seconds," instructed Wood. "Then when I blow the whistle again, lean forward slightly and touch back down."

The class nodded and waited for the whistle.

"3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . GO!" The whistle sounded and Rose kicked off the ground. She shot up, not far, but quite a few feet and felt the wind whip back her hair. It felt great! She was finally on a broom and not in secret. It was amazing to breathe in the fresh air. She was one of the few whom actually kicked off though.

Albus and Scorpius had kicked off and were a little below her. Jessica and Ashley had also kicked off. No one else had however. It seemed they were all afraid of crashing and falling, as many had claimed they had done before.

Then out of nowhere, the toad boy's (**A/N: Whose name I can't remember! If anyone remembers please review or PM me and tell**) broom started jerking. Rose recognized it as a bucking broom that Hogwarts had confiscated generations ago. Like when Albus' grandparents had been in school.

Everyone gasped as he steadily began rising higher and higher. Then, without warning, the broom bucked him off and sent him flying into a nearby tree. He landed on top of the branch, which snapped, and he fell to the ground.

"Oh Merlin, why does it always seem to be one unfortunate one?" cried Professor Wood. He helped the toad boy up and began leading him to the infirmary. The boy was crying.

"Nobody is to stay in the air until I get back," said Professor Wood. "The person who is caught in the air will be out of Hogwarts before they can say Quidditch."

Once Wood was out of earshot Miranda number 1 began talking.

"Did you see the look on his face?" she shrieked, picking up the boy's fallen toad. "It's a wonder that broom could even lift him up in the first place with his fat ass."

Miranda number 2 laughed along with some Slytherins who happened to be in this class. The rest just glared at her.

"Shut up Richardson," snarled Rose. It was uncharacteristic of her to get angry with someone like that, but Miranda got her furious (**A/N: No, she's not a lesbian! No offense**).

The Slytherins ooed at her and Miranda smirked.

"Why don't you make me?" she taunted. She jumped on her broom and began flying up with great ease. "What's the matter Weasley? Bit beyond your reach?"

Rose could have never answered what had gotten into her. Maybe it was the fact that she had already broken the rule once and wanted to be a rebel. Maybe Miranda had just been pushing her buttons. She didn't know. What she did know though is that she had to get the boy's toad back for him.

Rose hopped on her broom too, to the surprise of Al and Scorpius, and began flying up with even greater ease. This shocked the two even more.

"Give it here Richardson, or I'll knock you off your broom!" screamed Rose.

Miranda number 1 tossed up the toad and caught it.

"Is that so?"

Rose zoomed forward and Miranda dodged her just in time.

"No one up here to protect you," smirked Rose. "Not Miranda, though she's not much help, not any of those guys you'll sometimes hang out with."

Miranda number 1 seemed to be thinking along the same lines. The odds were against her so she could only do one thing.

"Fine, have it your way then," she said. She threw the toad in the air across the playing field. Rose zoomed in the other direction after it. She was almost level with it. She reached out her hand and – She caught it!

She gently leaned forward and came down again, to meet cheering from her fellow classmates who did not like any of Miranda's. Thankfully for her, no teacher had seen her and she had evaded trouble unlike how Uncle Harry was noticed. She didn't need the whole world knowing she was good at Quidditch. She could try out for the House next year and they could learn then.

"Rose! You never told me you were good at Quidditch!" cried Albus, patting her on the back along with many others.

"You never asked," said Rose cheekily.

"Cute."

She looked over and saw Scorpius giving her a knowing look. Guess he was pretty smart.

Thankfully, news hadn't spread that Rose was good at flying. She didn't want it promoted and Miranda number 1 seemed to have threatened everyone not to speak a word of it. Rose could find several loopholes with this, but that didn't mean she was about to announce it. Unfortunately, Albus wouldn't drop it. He wasn't afraid of Miranda.

"I can't believe you never played with us in the orchid at grandma's house!" complained Albus. "You could have played Seeker all those times!"

Rose slammed her book shut. "Do you think I give a damn? NO! There's a reason I didn't tell you guys, don't you think? It's because I didn't need to get sucked into it."

She jammed her books back in her bag and stalked upstairs to her dormitory.

"What's up with her?" asked James, passing by them.

"PMSing," shrugged Albus.

"She's 11," pointed out James.

"And?"

"She's too young!"

"Is there something you've been hiding from us?"

"Oh yeah, Al, I'm secretly a girl."

"I always knew it."

The next day when Rose saw the toad boy she gave him back his toad.

"Thanks so much!" he cried happily. "I was afraid I lost him for good! My Mum and Dad would have been so mad at me."

"No problem," said Rose. "How's your wrist?"

"Great, Madam Pomfrey mended it in a heartbeat," the boy replied (**A/N: Yes, she's still there. She wasn't **_**that**_** old during Harry's time!**). "She's so nice. She told me such funny stories about my parents when they were in school. It kept my mind off the pain."

Rose smiled. She knew Madam Pomfrey. Her parents had invited her over before for tea. She was the nicest Healer Rose had ever met. She made it look like so much fun, that's what Rose wanted to be when she left Hogwarts in six years.

"I'll talk to you later," said the boy, running off to join his friends.

"'Kay, bye," said Rose absentmindedly. He reminded her of someone . . .

She shrugged. Well, you can't lose what you can't remember.

A/N: Please review! (Remember, if you know whom the toad boy's name is please either review or PM me). Thanks!


	8. A Wise Old Man

**Disclaimer:** Do you honestly think I own Harry Potter if I'm writing these stories on the computer? If you do . . . that's frightening.

Chapter Eight – A Wise Old Man

It was apparent that the weather was changing from Fall to a harsh Winter. If you were looking from a Birdseye view though, on a cold December day, you would see three first years, making their way through snow, one of them holding a jar full of blue flames. The other two would be noticed staying close to her to keep warm.

"Tell me again why we're out here," said Rose, shivering intensely. She had already made Bluebell Flames to keep them warm, but it was still very cold out.

"Now what would three first years be doing out in the bitter cold?" asked a voice from behind them.

The three turned around and they came face-to-face with the Divination Teacher, Professor Vanderhoof. He also happened to be a Vampire, but Professor Lovegood hired him anyway. Rose hid the flames behind her back since she wasn't sure if they were allowed to have them or not. It was a well-known fact that he didn't like the Potter's and particularly did not like Albus.

"We were bored inside," said Albus simply.

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is."

"What's that in your hand?" he asked Albus.

Albus glared at him. "It's my mini model of the Firebolt 2000. Something wrong with that?"

Vanderhoof narrowed his eyes at Al. "I don't like your tone. Five points from Gryffindor."

He turned his back on them and walked away.

"Stupid Vampire," muttered Albus. Scorpius nodded vigorously but Rose looked disapproving at them.

"It's that kind of prejudiced that makes them even more irritable to Wizards," reprimanded Rose.

"What are you going to do? Start a club to be nicer to Vampires?" snorted Albus. "It can be called S.P.U.V. The society promotion of ugly Vampires."

"Oh ha, ha," said Rose. "No, but it would be a good idea to do it for all Magical Creatures. Perhaps I'll begin working on S.P.O.M.C."

"What the hell does that stand for?" asked Albus.

"Society Promotion of Magical Creatures, of course!"

"What do you think Scorp?"

Scorpius sighed. "No comment."

Both Rose and Albus glared at him. "It's either yes to me or yes to Albus. Take your pick."

Scorpius shook his head. "I've learned some important life lessons this year. One of those is when two friends are having a disagreement, it's best to stay out of it and hope for the best."

"That's the most ridiculous life lesson ever," smirked Albus.

"In retrospect, it really isn't Al," said Rose thoughtfully. "Remember when Scorp and I were fighting and you weren't taking sides? It's like that."

"No it isn't! It's a totally different situation."

Rose gave him a look. "Albus."

"Fine, it's exactly the same," he amended, sitting down under the beech tree that so many before them have sat under.

"So, are you guys going home for Christmas?" asked Scorpius.

Rose nodded. "My family is going over to Al's house for Christmas Eve and the next morning. Hey, why don't we invite Scorp over?"

"Yeah!" cried Albus excitedly. "I mean, we're going to be off for a while and you can only stand Rose for so long alone."

"Hey!"

However, Scorpius looked hesitant.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," he said. He paused, "your father, Rose, might not be too happy if I come. Plus, my Dad wouldn't be either."

"But surely he understands."

"Actually, I – I haven't –" stuttered Scorpius.

"Wait a second, did you not tell your Dad that you're friends with us?" asked Rose, her eyes widening.

Scorpius sighed and nodded.

"Why? Are you embarrassed of us?" asked Albus hurt.

Scorpius said, "Of course not! It's just – I didn't want my father to get mad at me. I know I should have told him. I was planning on doing it to his face this Christmas."

"Well, I guess that does make more sense," said Rose. "It's always better to talk to someone's face rather than write it in a letter like we did."

Scorpius nodded and fell silent, so Rose took this momentary opportunity to ask again.

"So, will you _please_ come during the Holiday?" she begged. Al actually got on his knees and pouted.

Scorpius laughed. "Fine, if it won't upset your father too much. How about Boxing Day?"

"Sounds great," said Rose sincerely.

No matter how happy Rose was that Scorpius had agreed to come on Boxing Day, she knew her father would not be. Both her and Al knew Uncle Harry wouldn't mind, seeing as he made somewhat amends with Scorpius' father years ago. However, Rose decided she'd tell them the morning of Boxing Day so it'd be too late to change any minds.

So the day that break began, the trio made their way in the carriages to Hogsmeade, where the train was excitedly.

"I can't wait to see my Mum and Dad," squealed Rose ecstatically.

"Me too," agreed Albus. Scorpius however, stayed silent.

"Don't you want to see your parents, Scorp?" asked Rose tentatively.

"Of course," said Scorpius quickly. "It's just – my parents fight a lot." He said the last person in such haste it was hard to understand, but Rose decided not to press it. She gave Al a look when it looked like he was about to bring it up and the message was received.

"Anyway, I can imagine how obnoxious Hugo is going to be now, asking about Hogwarts," said Rose, rolling her eyes. "My brother," she added at Scorpius' questioning look. "He'll be coming to Hogwarts in two years."

"Yeah, well my younger sister Lily, who's the same age as Hugo must be at least ten times as annoying," groaned Albus. "I totally forgot that she was complaining about not being able to go. She'll be begging me for every detail along with trying to get her hands on my cloak."

"I still can't believe your Dad just gave both the map and the cloak to you and James," commented Scorpius. "Wouldn't he want to keep it for now?"

Albus shrugged. "He knows the map of Hogwarts by heart and it's not like he goes there anymore. He also can do a perfect Disillusionment Charm, so he doesn't need the cloak."

They spent the rest of the train ride talking about all the pranks they could pull with the cloak _and_ the map if they could sneak it away from James. It was wishful thinking. James never let the map out of his sight and he put a charm on it to know if anyone tried to steal it.

A few hours later when the train was nearing the station they changed out of their robes and into their Muggle clothing and prepared themselves for the family. As the train reached the snow-covered station, they got off and put their trunks into the karts and in groups of three, leaned casually through the platform. They didn't need the Muggle's freaking out if people suddenly appeared out of a brick wall.

"Mum! Dad! Hugo!" cried Rose, running to her family. They all enveloped her in a big bear hug.

"I missed you Daddy," whispered Rose.

"I missed you too Rosie," said her father grinning. Rose noticed however, that somehow the grin didn't extend to his eyes. Her Mum must have noticed too, because she shot him a warning look and his eyes began to sparkle like normal again.

"Rose! Rose!" cried a little girl's voice behind her. She turned around to see Lily running up to her.

"She goes straight to everyone _but_ me," snorted Albus. "You were right Rose, she does hate me."

"Yeah, because we all know the mystery behind that," smirked Lily and Rose laughed. It was just then did Rose notice that the rest of the family was there too. Her aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Everyone was moving around exchanging hugs with James, Albus, or Rose and by the time they were done it had been half an hour.

"We're all going back to the Potter's house by car and the other adults are Apparating there," explained Hermione. "Come on Rosie, I'll help you with your trunk and Freddy."

As her Mum lifted the trunk out of the kart however, Rose scanned the surrounding area for Scorpius but couldn't find him anywhere. She sighed and helped her Mum with her stuff as everyone else walked, talked, and laughed on his or her way to the car.

Rose was amazed when she saw the car had been magically enlarged because she doubted in a normal Muggle car, they could fit all five Potter's, four Weasley's, three large trunks, and three owl cages.

"So Rose, you said in your letter that you made a friend," said Ron shortly. Rose's face drained its color. She had a feeling her Dad would bring this up sometime over the holiday, but she didn't think so soon.

Hermione cut in. "Ron –"

"It was just a simple statement, dear," said Ron stiffly. "I assume you also got my letters?"

Rose nodded, her eyes filling up with tears. She really didn't want to talk about this now. Her Mum saw from the front and sighed, reaching her arm back to pat her knee.

"Why didn't you respond to the first letter?"

Rose said, "Albus s-silenced it so no one heard the contents of it."

"Way to go, Al!" congratulated Harry. Al grinned and promised to tell him how later, but they both stopped talking at the mute expression on Ron's face.

"I see. You heard the second one?"

"Yes, the whole Great Hall did, thank you," snapped Rose. Uncle Harry almost crashed the car in surprise, Aunt Ginny and her Mum gasped, and James, Albus, Lily, and Hugo all moaned. They obviously sensed a row to begin soon.

Ron spun around in his seat. "I don't like your tone young lady," he said. "You better watch your mouth or I'll turn this car around."

"Firstly, you're not even driving the car," said Rose to everyone's horror, "and secondly, I doubt the whole family wants to spend the night sleeping on the cold floors of Kings Cross Station."

"DO NOT SPEAK TO ME IN THAT TONE!" screamed Ron.

"Ron!" cried Hermione scandalized. Before she could reprimand him Rose intervened.

"You know, it's awful rich of you to say you never liked it when _your_ parents sent a Howler to you," said Rose, not yelling but her voice deadly. "I'm assuming you know the definition for a hypocrite?"

The whole car, excluding Ron, groaned. Ron on the other hand looked livid.

"Ron, mate, calm down," said Harry, keeping one eye on the road and one on his furious friend.

"Yeah, seriously Ron," said Ginny. "You are overreacting and always harp on about everything."

"Amen," muttered Rose and the whole back seat erupted in giggles. Harry held back a snort and Hermione and Ginny tried and failed to look disapproving.

"I do _not_ harp on about everything!" cried Ron indignantly.

"Oh really?" said Ginny, narrowing her eyes. Always a danger sign. "Remember Michael Corner? And Dean Thomas? No overreacting there, huh?"

This time Harry actually did snort but by which point they pulled into the driveway so he could dodge Ron's swat.

"This is different," said Ron shortly. "My daughter is friend's with a Malfoy! And so are your sons, for god's sake! I'm surprised you're not upset."

Ginny got out and rolled her eyes.

"Ron, it's time for you to get over your petty childhood grudges," said Harry. It was odd to see him so "wise" like this.

"You didn't forgive him for all he did for a while," said Ron, helping lift the trunks out.

"That's right, but I did in the end because if memory serves he didn't give us away when we were captured at his Manor," said Harry, eyeing Ron seriously. "He pretended like he wasn't sure if it was us, which probably saved our asses." Once his wife was out of earshot he added, "Plus she made me and I knew it was either that or losing an important part of my anatomy."

James and Albus howled with laughter, but Rose and Lily looked mildly revolted.

"I guess now is not a good time to mention Scorpius coming over," whispered Rose to Albus.

He nodded. "Not unless _you_ want to lose something you value."

Dinner that night was a tense occasion. Ron was still not talking to Rose and Rose was furious at the way her father was treating her.

"You can't choose your friends!" she whispered angrily to James.

He looked at her weirdly. "Er – yes you can, actually Rose. That's kind of the point."

She ignored this and after she finished, excused herself to go to the room her and Lily were sharing.

She started unpacking her stuff and putting it in the spare draw. She was about to put her globe that her father had given her for her eighth birthday when she threw it against the wall and it shattered. She heard the dining room go quiet and footsteps approaching the room. She wiped her eyes quickly and jumped out the window to sit on the roof. She had a ledge like this at her house and liked to sit out there when she was angry or upset or just to look at the stars. Tonight was too cloudy to see anything in the sky.

She felt another body brush up against hers and felt the weight of someone sitting down next to her.

"I repaired your globe for you and put it back in your trunk," said a deep male voice. She turned her head slightly and saw the outline of her Uncle Harry. She could tell he was looking at her and made it a point to look away.

"Your Dad is overreacting," he said simply.

"Tell him that," muttered Rose.

Harry ignored this. "He only does what he does because he loves you. You know that right?"

"He has a funny way of showing it," said Rose after a long pause.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, he was like that during our time at Hogwarts. He could never admit that he loved your Mum. In fact, it was to the point where your Aunt and I just wanted to shove them into a closet together."

Rose let out a watery laugh. She had heard stories about her parents, and how they had appeared to despise each other. Everyone knew better though.

"A wise man once said it's easier to forgive those for being wrong than for being right," said Harry absentmindedly. "And that we fight with those who we love the most, more than those whom we hate."

Rose turned to look at him and saw a tear trickle down his cheek. She was surprised when he got up and began inching back into the room, leaving her with that to think about.

"Think about it, think about it, think about it, think about it . . ."

"Uncle Harry, what are you doing?" asked Rose.

He grinned. "I wanted you to think about it."

She smacked his playfully on the head and shooed him away, leaving her to think about it . . .

A/N: Please review!


	9. Tacky Soap Operas

**Disclaimer:** I think we know where this is going *sob*

**A/N:** Thank you for the lovely and simple reviews everyone. Thank you also to Tabithatibi for the long thoughtful ones about what you like and don't like. I appreciate it and feel open to curse at Ron, I do it all the time :D.

Chapter Nine – Tacky Soap Operas

Rose spent most of her vacation in her room she was sharing with Lily, either explaining Hogwarts to Lily or thinking long and hard about what Uncle Harry had said the other night. She had come to one conclusion. The wise old man was Dumbledore. That was it. The rest really had nothing to do with anything in her opinion because as far as she was concerned, her father wasn't forgiving her anytime soon and she was in no rush to forgive him either. He had embarrassed her in front of _everyone_ for Merlin's sake!

So that Christmas Eve, if you had been looking in on what Rose Weasley was doing, you would see her curled up thinking (as usual!) on her bed that had been placed there for the holiday.

Just then, there was a knock on her door and she jumped about a foot, hitting her head on the windowsill. She cursed inwardly and said, "Who is it?"

"It's Mum," said Hermione.

Oh, okay. "Come on in."

The door opened to reveal her Mum, standing there with two cups of tea in her hand. She knew that Rose loved tea when she was upset and decided it'd be best to get her on her good side. Rose knew too.

"I know you're bribing me Mum," smirked Rose. Her mom feigned confusion. "I inherited your brains remember?"

Hermione smirked too and handed her the steaming cup. "I wanted to talk to you, honey."

"What about?"

Hermione hesitated. "Well – look, I know your dad can be stubborn, obnoxious, idiotic, harsh –"

Rose held up her hand and her Mum fell silent.

"Okay, listen Mum," she said. "I'm going to stop you right there. You're starting to sound like one of those tacky Soap Operas we like to make fun of. If there's a point to this could you get to it?"

Hermione sighed and said, "Look, I'm not trying to justify the way your father's been acting. But he only does what he does because he loves you, even if he has a funny way of showing it sometimes."

Rose scrutinized her mother. "Uncle Harry told you about our conversation, didn't he?"

Hermione grinned. "You're without a doubt the brightest witch of your age."

"You're avoiding the question."

Hermione sighed again. "Yes, he told me. When we heard the crash in your room your father was going to come in to check on you, but your Uncle figured that wouldn't be too wise considering where you two stand currently."

"Aint that the truth," muttered Rose darkly.

Now it was Hermione's turn to scrutinize her daughter.

"There's something else bothering you, Rose," she said quietly. "What's wrong?"

Rose averted her eyes. She knew her mother was a skilled Legilmens.

"Rose, you know you can tell me –" began Hermione.

"Mum, Al and I invited Scorpius Malfoy over on Boxing Day," said Rose hastily.

Hermione choked on her tea and brushed her hair haphazardly out of her face. She groaned.

"And when were you planning on mentioning this?" asked Hermione.

"The morning he was coming so no one could say no," whispered Rose so that her Mum could barely hear her.

Hermione sighed for the third time that night. "I'm going to tell your Aunt and Uncle. They should know first, but I'm sure they won't mind. Your father – well, wish me luck."

Rose gave her a weak smile and waited for the explosion. She could hear her Mum talking to Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry. They seemed to take it fine. Turned out Albus had waited for her to mention it. Then she heard her Mum go talk to her Dad.

"THEY INVITED WHO?" screamed her Dad. Rose winced and wished she could use magic to lock the door. "SHE BLOODY INVITED –" She knew her Mum must have cast _Muffliato_ at the door so she couldn't hear. Her Mum didn't know that she knew that spell (long story) and she didn't know that she had picked up all of her gutter language from her father.

She waited for her Mum to come back and that she did, about 25 minutes later; red faced and furious, yet with a certain demeanor in her step that Rose couldn't quite place.

"Well, that went fairly well, all things considered," said Hermione happily.

"Does that mean it's fine for Scorpius to come in two days?" asked Rose hopefully.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I've convinced your father to allow it. Really, there was no way he could win."

"Is there ever?" smirked Rose, getting up and hugging her Mum. "Thank you! Thank you! You're the best mother ever!"

Hermione snorted. "Only when I do stuff for you."

Rose looked up at her Mum grinning. "Yeah, well, it sure does help."

That night Rose Weasley was having a horrid nightmare. She hadn't had one like this since she was five and she dreamed that James had eaten her owl. She had refused to talk to him for two months before realizing it_ had_ been a dream. Anyway, now she was having a dream about . . . well, you'll see.

"No," she moaned in her sleep. "NO! Dad! Don't push me off a cliff! We're 500 feet up!

"Rose!"

"NO! AAAAAARRGHHH! WHERE'S MY PARACHUTE?"

"ROSIE! WAKE UP!"

Rose eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly, her eyes full of tears and sweat.

"Where am I?" she asked, wiping off her face with a towel.

"You're at my house, Rosie," said Lily, looking at her concerned.

Without any warning, Rose leaned over her bed and threw up right next to Lily who jumped out of the way in time.

"I'm getting your Mum!" she cried and ran out.

Rose sat shivering and waiting for five minutes before she heard loud footsteps. Lily was back with her mother, Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and her father.

"Rose, what's wrong darling?" asked Hermione worriedly. "Oh, Ginny could you please get her some water?"

Aunt Ginny nodded and ran out of the room with Uncle Harry at her heels.

Rose recounted her dream to her Mum and watched as her father's face steadily lost its color.

"Rose," he said quietly. "You know I wouldn't do anything to harm you, right? Especially pushing you off a 500 foot cliff."

Rose hesitated, then nodded. It was just a silly nightmare and nothing more. She hugged her father and then her mother. Just then Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry reappeared with a glass of water and a throat/stomach-soothing Potion.

"Here, drink some water and than this," said Ginny. "It'll help you fall back to sleep."

"Thank you," said Rose and her watch beeped. It was midnight. She had woken everyone up!

"I'm sorry for waking you all," she said shamefacedly.

"Don't be ridiculous, you can't help being ill," said Ginny. Rose smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Here, try to go back to sleep honey," said her Mum, handing her the Potion.

"'Night Rosie," said her father, kissing her forehead. "And I'm sorry for overreacting lately. I'll be on my best behavior when Scorpius comes."

Rose smiled. "Thanks Dad."

Rose had barely slept for nine hours before she was shaken awake again.

"Who's there?" she asked groggily.

"Rosie, it's Lily," said Lily anxiously. Rose heard her anxious tone and sat bolt upright.

"What's wrong?"

"It's 9 o'clock and everyone's up but you! You know I'm not allowed to go down without everyone being up!"

Rose sighed and kicked off her covers. Sometimes it paid to have Lily as a cousin. This was one of those times.

Lily practically dragged her out of the room and she saw all the kids in her family now gathered at hall steps.

"You're the last one up," growled James. "I want presents. If you're wise, you don't stand in the way of my presents."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to sleep!" cried Rose. Everyone glared at her and she admitted defeat. Plus, who was she to stand in the way of kids and presents?

"All right, you can go down now," said Aunt Ginny, walking out of the bathroom. "Just be –" But she never got to finish. Everyone who was crowded in the hall stampeded down the steps and into the den where the piles of Christmas presents were.

It was complete and utter pandemonium. Wrapping paper so neatly wrapped was destroyed, torn, and thrown everywhere. Even Rose, who was normally calm, decided against it and was on a rampage to find what was hers.

Even though all of the presents were labeled there were still some misconceptions. Rose must have gotten most of Albus' and Teddy's presents because she knew what they had gotten certainly could not be hers (no comment). She wondered if anyone had gotten her presents and hunted them down. By the end of the two hours they spent unwrapping, they all gathered in a circle and exchanged what wasn't there's and got what was. By noon, everyone had what he or she had originally been given and were content with it.

After she had said all of her thanks and received them herself, Rose separated herself from the family and went up to pack away her new stuff. All of it she was going to take to Hogwarts. A lot of it was books but since she loved to read with a passion it was fine. As she was placing her stuff neatly into her trunk, she heard the door opened and turned to see Albus standing there.

"Hey Al," she greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much, trying to separate myself from the crazy people out there," he replied, sitting on Lily's bed. "It was either this or the bathroom. I debated for a while."

"Oh, gee thanks," said Rose, throwing a shoe at him. "I love the amount of thought you put into comparing me to the toilet."

"It was easy, the bathroom was taken," he teased and earned himself another shoe aimed at him. "I've seemed to have touched a nerve."

"Ha, ha," laughed Rose mockingly. "So, what'd you get for Christmas?"

"Ah, just some Quidditch stuff, new robes and all," counted off Albus. "Mum's still in denial and got me some books. I think she's hoping you'll be a good influence on me."

Rose laughed. "Fat chance."

Albus laughed too. "I know, right? Anyway, how's about you? What'd you get?"

Rose snickered. "Books."

Albus sighed. "Of course. What books?"

"From my Mum books she calls Muggle classics," replied Rose.

"What are the names? Just don't tell my Mum, she might get ideas."

Rose chucked and picked up two books that happened to still be out. "_To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee and _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen."

Albus looked at her weirdly. "So, you have a guide to kill a bird and some other weird book about people who are either bi-polar or have multiple personalities?"

Rose snorted. "There's so much wrong with you, Al. I'll explain it to you another time when I don't feel like I'm talking to a pre-schooler."

He looked at her weirdly again.

"Muggle thing."

"Ohh, why didn't you say so?"

Rose rolled her eyes and continued packing her stuff in her trunk. Albus was sure though he heard her distinctly mutter, "Boys."

A/N: Scorpius is coming next chapter! Yay! Please review!


	10. Boxing Day and Midnight Rendezvous

**Disclaimer:** I think we all know where this is going *sob*

Chapter 10 – Boxing Day and Midnight Rendezvous

Rose was full of anticipation when Boxing Day came around, to see Scorpius. She knew Albus was too and couldn't help but feeling like they both wanted someone else's presence. Uncle Harry had agreed to go and get Scorpius and bring him by Side-long Apparation. Rose was curious to find out how everything went when he'd see Mr. Malfoy and made a mental note to ask him through a letter once back at Hogwarts. Scorpius was staying for the rest of the vacation, which was only a few more days and was bunking with Al and James.

"Is he here yet, Aunt Ginny?" called Rose from a lower floor of the house.

"I don't believe so, Rose," called back Ginny. "I think I'd know if Scorpius _Malfoy_ was in my house. Is he up by you Al?"

Albus came to the banister from the third floor.

"I think I'd know if my best friend was in my house, Mum," smirked Albus.

"Did someone say Scorp was here?" called James from the bathroom.

"NO!!!" all three screamed in response. Rose began walking back to the den to pace and wait but came upon a surprise when she entered the room.

"SCORPIUS!" she shrieked, running over to him and hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, while laughing at her enthusiasm.

"Did someone cry Scorpius?" called Al, two floors above them all.

"Yes! He's here Al," laughed Rose. Right on cue, several doors slammed and Al, James, Lily, and Hugo came so fast they might have Apparated.

"Hey Scorp!" cried Al, slapping Scorpius on the back. "It hasn't been the same without you, being stuck with James all the time."

"What about me?" asked Rose indignantly.

"Oh please, you've been spending most of your time reading," snorted Albus.

"Yeah, something you ought to do more than once in your life," smirked Aunt Ginny, walking in. "Nice to meet you Scorpius," she said, extending her hand, which he shook.

"Well excuse me if I don't spend my free time reading," said Albus.

"Reading isn't that bad," said Scorpius grinning. "I've been spending a lot of my time over break reading some new books."

Aunt Ginny grinned and Albus groaned.

"No! Now she's going to get ideas," moaned Albus. "You've ruined the whole "missing you" and you haven't even been here for 10 minutes!"

Scorpius and Rose laughed.

"Oh, by the way Al, I'll remember that you were "stuck with me"," smirked James. "Maybe Scorp here can help me think of new ways to harass Al."

Albus made a face but kept quiet knowing no good could come from responding.

"Oh, Scorpius this is my brother Hugo and Al's younger sister Lily," explained Rose. The two shook Scorpius' hand. "They'll be coming to Hogwarts in a year and a half."

"Wayyyy to far away," complained Lily. Albus slapped his head.

"Nice going, Rose," he groaned. "You just set us all up for moaning and groaning for the next few days."

"Not if we – RUN!" cried Rose. "James, bring Scorpius' bag upstairs and we'll meet you in a few minutes!"

James nodded and ran up the staircase as the trio ran outside to escape Lily and Hugo, whom looked confused and upset.

They ran all the way to the orchard where the Potter's enjoyed playing Quidditch during nice weather. Today happened to be somewhat sunny but also very cold.

They came to a stop, panting due to running a long distance. Rose felt like she was having trouble breathing. The sharpness of the cold was piercing against her throat and she already had asthma as her Muggle/Wizard doctor had told her when she was six. Even at Hogwarts she carried around an inhaler just in case but today she forgot it upstairs in her room. The other two had stopped panting a while ago, but she was still having difficulty breathing. They looked over at her nervously.

"Rose, are you okay?" asked Scorpius.

Rose was about to nod when she broke into a fit of coughing. She shook her head no.

"Did you forget your inhaler in the house?" asked Al nervously.

Rose gave him thumbs up, insinuating that she had.

"We need to get her inside quickly," said Al anxiously. "The harsh weather isn't going to help her catch her breath any quicker. The last thing we need is for her to have an asthma attack out here."

"What's asthma?" asked Scorpius. He had never heard of these common Muggle ailments. His parents weren't particularly fond of Muggles.

Albus said, "It's a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing."

Rose fell to her knees in a horrible coughing fit. She could feel her airways blocking up and desperately needed to get inside.

The last thing she remembered before blacking out were two people lifting her up and calling for Aunt Ginny and James. Whoever those people were.

Rose woke up to find herself on a warm bed. She couldn't remember where she was or what she had been doing before she passed out. She could hear and feel people gathered around her but her eyelids were too heavy to open.

"Will she be okay?" asked a male's voice.

"For the thousandth time, Al, she'll be fine," said a woman's voice.

Al . . . that name rang a bell somewhere. Rose couldn't think where though for some reason.

"It's a good thing you brought her in," said a man's voice this time. "We're all proud of you, Al."

"I couldn't have done it without Scorpius' help," said the person named Al.

"Well, Rose is lucky she has such a good cousin and friend," said the woman's voice from before.

Rose's eyes snapped open automatically. She remembered now. Her, Albus, and Scorpius had been running away from Hugo and Lily and she must have had an asthma attack. Al was her cousin and Scorpius was her best friend.

"Rose! You're not dead!" greeted Hugo. Everyone stared at him. "Well, she's _not_."

"Thanks Hugo," grinned Rose. She looked around to see who was in the room. Around her bed from left to right was: Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, Lily, James, Hugo, Albus and Scorpius.

"How are you feeling Rose?" asked Aunt Ginny.

Rose shrugged. "Okay, I guess. My throat feels scratchy though."

"That'll be you lungs still irritated from the inflammation," said Uncle Harry. "It'll be a little while before they feel totally better."

Rose looked around, just noticing who wasn't there.

"Where are Mum and Dad?"

"They just left to pick up a new prescription from your Healer," explained Aunt Ginny. "They should be back any minute."

Rose turned to look at both Albus and Scorpius.

"You two carried me in?"

They both nodded.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "Merlin knows what would have happened if you hadn't been there. You guys probably saved my life."

"Well, at least now we can say we own your soul and you're forever in our debt," teased Albus. Everyone laughed and Rose playfully slapped him.

Just then, the door opened again and Hermione and Ron rushed in.

"Rosie, are you okay?" asked Ron, kneeling next to Uncle Harry by Rose's bedside.

"Better," replied Rose. "You went and got a new prescription?"

Her Mum nodded. "Here you go, sweetie." She handed Rose her inhaler and she took a deep breath of it. It made her throat sting even worse.

"Ugh, it stings," murmured Rose, handing her mother back the inhaler. "I'm tired."

"All right, we'll get out now and let you sleep a bit," said Uncle Harry. "Feel better Rose."

"Yeah, feel better Rose," chorused everyone. Her parents however, stayed by her bedside.

"What exactly happened?" asked her Dad.

"Well – we were talking in the hallway with Scorpius and then we suddenly tried to make a break for it from Lily and Hugo," explained Rose, "since we didn't want to listen to them complaining about Hogwarts. We ran out to the orchard where the others like to play Quidditch and we were trying to catch our breath."

"Well, Al and Scorpius had caught their breaths fine, but I was still having some trouble breathing," continued Rose wearily. "The last thing I remember before passing out was the pair of them lifting me up and calling for Aunt Ginny and James."

She was silent for a moment before breaking into another fit of coughing. She quickly took back her inhaler and took another puff of it. Her breathing became steady again.

"All right Rosie, we'll let you get some sleep now," said Dad, kissing me on the head. "Sleep tight."

"Don't let the bedbugs bite," joked Mum. Dad jumped about a foot.

"Bugs! Spiders! I don't like spiders!" he cried, running around the room.

"Ronald, calm down," implored Mum. "It's only a Muggle expression."

Dad calmed down a little bit but still kept his guard up. He had never liked spiders since he was three and Uncle Fred had turned his teddy bear into a spider (he had done this since he ruined his broom).

"Well, why didn't you say that before?" asked Dad. He looked pissed.

Mum shrugged. "Men," she said.

"I heard that! I _heard_ that!" he cried, running after her.

"You were meant to," called back Mum. I laughed. It was so hard to believe two people so different had wound up loving each other and getting married. It made me wonder whom I'd marry. But I was much too young to worry about that.

Pushing all the thoughts of marriage, my parents, and my asthma attack out of my head, I rolled over and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

It was 12:00 AM when Rose woke up. She woke up, she thought, because of her stomach grumbling from lack of food. Curse her for inheriting her father's stomach. Then she realized she hadn't woken up alone from that. She saw a body sitting in a chair next to her bed, breathing deeply. She would have screamed bloody murder, but the person must have known what was coming next and clamped his or her hand over her mouth.

"Quiet, or you'll wake up the whole house," they whispered.

Rose pulled the hand off. "Scorpius?"

"In the flesh," he said grinning.

"What the bloody hell are you doing in here?" asked Rose, suddenly becoming self-conscience. "How long have you been here for?"

"Since around 8:00 PM," replied Scorpius nonchalantly. Rose gasped.

"You've been here for _four_ bloody hours?"

Scorpius nodded. "Eh, I've had nothing better to do. Plus, someone had to make sure you didn't have another asthma attack."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Then why didn't my parents come in? Why'd they send you. No offense or anything."

Scorpius laughed quietly. "None taken. And – they don't know I'm in here."

Rose raised an elegant eyebrow. "Oh gee, that'd make Dad's Christmas. Coming into my room to see two 11-year-olds, one his daughter and the other whom he just recently began liking, talking nonchalantly. One also happens to be in bed."

Scorpius chuckled. "Yeah, we should take a picture of this."

"Kodak moment," joked Rose.

Scorpius looked at her strangely.

"Oh, it's a Muggle thing," laughed Rose.

Scorpius said, "You know, for a Pureblood, you seem to know a lot of Muggle phrases."

"That's because my Mum is a Muggleborn," explained Rose. "She grew up eleven years of her life hearing this kind of stuff. Most of the stuff I know is more recent though."

Scorpius nodded. "I get it. Well, I'd better go just incase your parents come to check in on you. See you later, Rose."

He leaned over and gave her a quick hug before getting up and leaving. He closed the door behind him and Rose sighed. Why was Scorpius going to all this trouble for her? Because he was just a good friend? Or he still hoped for more than that?

Leaving Rose with these dwindling thoughts, she rolled over again and this time, fell into an uneasy sleep.

A/N: Please review!


	11. Warranties

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own Harry Potter. Just take a look at my bank account.

**A Mudblood's Daughter and a Savior's Son**

By LilyxJames4ever

Chapter Eleven – Warranties

The next day Rose woke up with an odd sensation forming in her stomach. She felt like something had happened the night before, but she couldn't remember what. She got dressed in a cute pink white shirt with flowers and some slim cut jeans, also with flowers down her left leg. It was when she went down to breakfast that it hit her. The reason she had slept so on and off last night. Scorpius.

"Good morning, Rose," greeted her Mum as she sat down. They must have let her sleep in since no one else was at the table except for Scorpius.

"Good morning, mum," replied Rose, gratefully accepting her eggs and bacon. "Morning Scorp."

"Morning Rose," he replied and when no one was looking, winked at her. She shot him a warning look and when she was done eating, dragged him upstairs to her room.

"Are you asking to die?" she hissed even though no one could hear them. "My Dad would bloody kill me _and_ you if he knew that you'd been in my room for _four hours!_ I don't know about you but I'm in the mood to live and see tomorrow!" She sounded slightly hysterical but Scorpius wasn't unnerved.

"Calm down, Rose," he said calmly and she relaxed a bit. Just a bit. "I know it was risky being in here last night but I knew no one was watching us at breakfast. Do you think I'd be that suicidal to bargain your dad's acceptance of me?"

Rose hesitated for a moment and then shook her head no.

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way, I have to give you your belated Christmas present," he said grinning. "Between coming the day after and you deciding to have an asthma attack –"

"It's not like I chose to!" cried Rose, forgetting to keep her voice down. "Hey, how'd your dad react when Uncle Harry came to pick you up?"

Scorpius snorted. "He looked like he had swallowed stinksap. Though –" he said thoughtfully. "I had an hour before dropped frogspawn off the banister and it landed on his head, so –"

Rose fell into a state of giggles. She tried to imagine Mr. Malfoy with frogspawn all over his head but found it even worse for her laughter.

"Anyway, he kind of just said goodbye and nodded curtly to your uncle," continued Scorpius. "I don't think he ever was too pleased about being in his debt one too many times."

Rose shook her head. "No, I imagine not. It's unbelievable how our parents and grandparents have hated each other and now you, me, and Al are friends."

Scorpius nodded. Then said, "Enough stalling, let me get you your gift."

"All right, me too."

Scorpius flushed pink. "You didn't have to –"

Rose laughed. "You think I'm going to not get you anything? You're _mental!"_

Scorpius smiled and ran off to his room as Rose dug into her trunk. She pulled out a wrapped, rectangular box that was very thick. She stood up straight and held it behind her back.

A minute later he came rushing back in, out of breath and anxious.

"You look like you're going to barf," laughed Rose. Scorpius smiled weakly and they exchanged gifts.

Rose opened hers and found a beautiful musical box. She opened it and saw a picture of her, Scorpius, and Albus; sitting under the beech tree. Their tree.

"Rose! This is amazing!" cried Scorpius shocked. She snapped out of her reverie and looked up grinning at him. "This is exactly what I wanted!"

Rose had gotten him the newest broom kit. It had tweezers to clip the branches (**A/N: I can't think of what they're actually called**), broom polisher, and many other things that Scorpius had only read of before.

"Your gift is amazing," said Rose, smiling. "I love the tune and when did you take the picture."

"I asked a fourth year to take it when we were outside on that snowy day," replied Scorpius, still examining his present. "I thought it'd be nice with the snow all around us."

"You were right, I love it," said Rose, putting the box down and hugging him tightly. She whispered in his ear, "Come on, let's go outside and join the others."

He grinned and nodded. They ran out happily to watch the others play Quidditch.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Once outside, they settled under Rose's favorite tree and watched Albus, Harry, Ginny, and James play Quidditch. It was Harry and Albus against Ginny and James. So far, they were tied 70-70. Instead of playing with actual Quidditch balls however, they played with a basketball Harry had bought from a Muggle village and they had bewitched a rock to be a Snitch and two Bludger sized rocks to fill in as Bludgers. They made sure it stayed only in their boundaries though because the last thing they needed were run-away rocks flying around in the Muggle towns. All that would do was attract some awkward questions.

Harry went for the dive and caught the rock (Snitch) before Ginny had realized it was visible.

"In your face!" cried Albus at James. Albus stole his earmuffs and James went chasing after him on his broom.

"BOYS!" cried Ginny. "DON'T GO AND –" Before she could finish though, Albus had turned sharply and James flew through the open window and crashed in the kitchen.

"Damn," muttered Ginny, running into the house. Harry, Scorpius, and Rose laughed.

"Do you have a warranty on the house?" joked Rose. Harry laughed.

"We did and then James was born and a few years later it 'mysteriously' burned."

Scorpius and Rose laughed, along with Al who just walked over to them.

"Mum's inside treating to James," he said nonchalantly as if this happened all the time. The sad thing was, it _did_ happen all the time.

"Your mother is going to kill you," said Harry grimly. "You know her temper."

Albus shrugged. "James'll be fine. It's not any lasting damage. However, he can always blame his face disfigurement on this accident."

Rose and Scorpius laughed while Harry tried to look disapproving but failed dismally. After a while they were all hurting from laughing and Albus and Harry decided to go in. Harry to check on James and Albus to take refuge in his room, away from his mother and James.

"And then there were two," joked Scorpius. Rose laughed and looked at where the four had previously been playing Quidditch.

"Rose, can I ask you a question?" asked Scorpius. Rose turned to look at him. "You don't have to answer though if you don't want to."

Rose nodded uncertainly and waited.

"Why do you want your family to believe that you don't like Quidditch?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rose hastily.

Scorpius gave her a look. "I know you like Quidditch, Rose. I could see it in your eyes the first time you rode a broom. It was like there was nothing more to the world. No school, no work, no nothing."

Rose sighed. Leave it to her to befriend someone too smart for his own damn good.

"Fine, I like to play Quidditch," admitted Rose. "When I was younger I used to sneak out and play in the dark when I'd come here."

Scorpius nodded. He apparently wanted confirmation first that his theory was right.

"You still haven't answered the question."

Rose sighed again. "I don't really know why I don't want anyone to know. I guess because I don't need people bugging me all the time about it. I don't even know if I'm good. I guess we'll find out next year."

Scorpius looked surprised. "You're going to tryout for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

"Yeah…?"

"It's just . . . I don't think you'll be able to hide it much longer after you go to tryouts," Scorpius pointed out. Rose nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied. "I don't think I'll really care by that point. If I make it, great I won't mind if my family knows. If I don't make it, I swear to Merlin I'll hex anyone who tells the family I tried out to begin with."

Scorpius laughed but stifled it when he saw Rose was serious.

"Come on, let's go inside," suggested Rose shivering. "It's getting cold and we should finish packing for tomorrow."

Scorpius nodded and they walked together into the nice, warm house.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

It was not long before James, Rose, Albus, and Scorpius headed back off to Hogwarts, once more leaving their family. This time, however, it flew by far faster than the first term and before Rose knew it, it was April, her birthday month.

"Happy birthday, Rose," said Jessica, all chipper the morning of.

"Wake up! Wake up!" cried Ashley, jumping on her bed. Rose groaned.

"Don't you know it's suicidal to wake up a Weasley early on a Saturday morning? We're not exactly morning people," she joked, rolling over.

"But it's your birthday and you have to open your presents!"

Rose groaned and put her head under her pillow.

"I bet Scorpius got you a present," whispered Jessica.

Rose came out from under her pillow and glared at her.

"He's just a friend."

"For now."

Rose sighed. "Fine. I'm going to take a shower and _then_ I'll open my presents."

Ashley eagerly jumped off Rose's bed to allow her to get up and walked back to her own to get dressed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The three girls walked down their dormitory staircase and met Albus in the common room.

"Hi Albus," giggled Ashley.

"Hey Ashley, Jessica," he said, nodding towards Jessica, who smiled. He then turned to Rose. "Happy birthday, Rose!"

Rose laughed. "Thanks Al. Where's Scorpius?" she asked, looking around.

Albus smirked. "I believe he wanted to finish perfecting your birthday present." Rose's ears turned bright red. "Speaking of which, I have yours right here. Here you go."

He handed her a square package and she took it confused. She opened it slightly, wanting to see what it was first and gasped. It was a similar kit to the one that she had given Scorpius. She looked at her cousin.

"It's funny how the porch lights illuminate the orchid," he said nonchalantly. "I'd find when we were younger that I would wake up in the middle of the night and when I looked out the window –"

"Thanks Al," whispered Rose, hugging him. Jessica and Ashley looked at the two of them, puzzled but chose not to ask and the four of them walked downstairs.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Rose should have known that it was the wrong day to go down to breakfast, especially with the fact that she was James' cousin.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSE!" he yelled when she walked in. She was embarrassed enough by that but her ears turned even more red when he set off firecrackers that formed her name. He must have gotten them from her Uncle George's shop.

"I'm going to bloody kill him," muttered Rose, sinking into her seat. She laughed though as Professor Lovegood looked around the hall in amazement. "I still find it hard to believe that she became Headmistress."

Albus only shrugged and began devouring his eggs, much to Rose's amusement because if she made a crack about it, he would only do so in return. As mentioned earlier, she has her father's appetite.

Breakfast went on without any other commotion, just happy birthday wishers coming up to Rose every once in a while.

But Scorpius never showed up.

Rose started to get concerned, wondering where in Merlin's pants he could be.

"I'm going to go up to the dormitory and grab my Potions book, I forgot it," she said, before breakfast ended.

"I'll come with," said Jessica. Ashley; on the other hand, continued chatting with Albus amicably.

Rose rolled her eyes and the two of them walked up the stairs and to their dormitory in silence.

"Ashley seems to really like your cousin," said Jessica silently.

Rose looked at her surprised. "Yes, I'd say so," she said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure if the feelings are mutual though."

Jessica did not say anything and Rose glanced at her scrutinizing but chose not to say anything else.

They walked into the common room and Rose looked around but Scorpius was not there either. She walked up with Jessica to their dormitory and went to her bedside to grab her book and received a shock.

There was a package wrapped and shaped in the form of a broomstick on her bed.

"Is that -?" gasped Jessica.

"It can't be," muttered Rose. She quickly unwrapped it and saw that it was. It was the latest Firebolt 2001. There was no card.

"It's the -!" began Jessica, but Rose clamped her hand over her mouth.

"You can_not_ tell a soul about this," she hissed. "Do you understand me? _No one._ Not even Ashley until I figure this out."

Jessica nodded and Rose removed her hand from Jessica's mouth.

"Don't you think that she'll notice a big-ass broomstick in our room?" asked Jessica dryly. Rose was taken aback.

"Not if I keep it under my bed, behind my trunk," she said. She did just that now and grabbed her Potions book. "Come on, we're going to be late for class."

They ran down the stairs and were just in time to see the portrait hole close.

"Hurry!" cried Rose. "That may be the person who gave it to me!" Although she had an idea who sent it to her, she was hoping her suspicions were wrong.

Her and Jessica tore out of the common room, much to the Fat Lady's annoyance, and saw a heel turn the corner.

"After them!"

They ran after the unknown person but he or she was long gone as they turned the corner. They must have taken an indirect route that Rose did not know of.

"Damn," she cursed. She sighed. "Come on, let's go to Potions."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"What took you guys so long?" asked Albus once Rose and Jessica arrived. "Where's Scorp?"

"I don't know," said Rose unnerved. "He wasn't in the common room…at least nowhere where I could see."

Albus looked at her curiously but she shook her head and took her seat just as Scorpius ran in out of breath. He grinned when he saw Rose.

"Happy birthday, Rose," he said, panting slightly.

"Where've you been?" she demanded.

He laughed. "You sound like an anxious girlfriend."

She flushed furiously as he took the seat to her right.

"I just got lost," he said simply.

She gave him a look. "You learned the way around the school before I did."

He shrugged. "Being away made me forget it all, I guess." He winked at her just as the professor walked in and began the lesson.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After class, Scorpius and Albus were talking Quidditch as they walked in when Rose stormed up to them and sidestepped in front of them.

"We need to talk," she said to Scorpius. He raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, this sounds fascinating!" said Albus sarcastically. "What Charms assignment shall we talk about _this_ time?"

"Sod off, Al," said Rose irritably. Albus was taken aback and looked slightly hurt. Rose immediately regretted snapping at him and apologized but not before he walked off with Ashley and Jessica.

"Irritated by something?" asked Scorpius, his eyebrow still raised. "Or someone?"

"Come over here," she said, indicating to behind the statue. His eyebrows shot up farther.

"Behind the _snogging_ statue?"

Rose blushed. "Don't get any ideas. _Come on."_

He obliged, mostly because he could tell she was desperate, and they both squeezed in.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Did you send me the broomstick?" she asked bluntly.

Scorpius smiled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She punched his arm and he winced. "What are you bloody playing at?" she hissed.

"It's your birthday, isn't it?"

She smacked him again. "You bloody moron. How am I supposed to explain to my parents that you got me a _broomstick?_ Do you know how much those cost? How did you even pay for it?"

"I'm a Malfoy," he said dryly. "Besides, who says you have to tell them?"

"I think they'll notice it when I get off the train carrying it!"

"Not if you leave it under your bed for the summer."

"And next year? James will blab to them if Albus doesn't by accident first," pointed out Rose. "Seriously Scorp, my father is going to go crazy! He just started liking you too!"

"I can explain it to him. You should really tell them that you enjoy playing Quidditch."

"Do _not_ make this about me," said Rose. "We'll talk about this later. We're going to be late for –"

But what they were going to be late for, Scorpius never found out because just then James came by with some girl in his year and stopped short.

"Oh sorry, we'll find the next empty snogging statue," he smirked.

"Wait, no! It's not like –" began Rose but he was already gone. She cursed.

"Are you that terrified of being caught with me?" asked Scorpius. Rose looked at him.

"Do you _know_ my cousin? He'll spread that we're doing more than just kissing around the school!"

"But we _weren't_ kissing."

Rose flushed again. She then noticed how close she was to them and how James could have easily thought that that was what they were doing.

"We're going to be late," she reiterated. She stepped out from behind the statue. "Come on."

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A/N: Please review!


	12. Summer Madness

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**A Mudblood's Daughter and a Savior's Son**

By LilyxJames4ever

Chapter 12 – Summer Madness

Soon after that scene behind the statue with Scorpius, Rose told Ashley about the broomstick after swearing her to secrecy and asked what she should do.

"I agree with Scorpius. You should just leave it here for the summer," said Ashley. "What's the worse that could come of it?"

"Trying out next year and James blurting to my parents if Albus doesn't first?"

Ashley giggled. "Is Albus trying out for the team too?"

Rose stared at her. "I don't know. We haven't talked about it much."

She did not bring up the subject again with Ashley, mostly because whenever she tried to remotely talk about it, Albus would come into the conversation. Anyone with _one eye_ could see that Ashley had a huge crush on him.

"Do you think you could see what he thinks of me?" she asked hopefully one morning.

Rose shook her head. "Albus isn't exactly one for admitting his feelings to easily. He's more mysterious that way, especially when it comes to whom he likes."

Rose also noticed that Jessica was exceptionally quiet during these conversations and looked forlorn. She did not say anything though, mostly because Ashley was almost always by her side and she did not want to start anything bad.

So it was now the day before they were due to return home and being the responsible person she was, Rose had finished her packing the night before. All she had left to pack were her pajamas and toiletries. However, scattered around the room was as many clothes and books, if not more, than when she first entered the room many months ago.

"This place is ridiculous," she said disdainfully, shaking her head.

"No, it's normal!" objected Ashley. Rose raised an eyebrow and walked over to her bed.

"_This,"_ she said, picking up a pumpkin juice container, having expired back in November, "is not normal. Unhealthy would be a more appropriate epitome for it."

Ashley made a face and snatched the pumpkin juice container and threw it in the garbage.

"Happy?"

"I will be once I can see our floor again," grinned Rose, flopping back onto her bed. "I think I should take refugee in –"

"ARRRGHHH!" yelled an angry voice.

They whipped around to see Miranda standing there with her minion, later they found out to be named Justine.

"You're crap is always lying _everywhere!"_ stormed Miranda, pushing her way through the piles of clothes and books. "I don't appreciate having to wake up to your _underwear_," she said, throwing one of Ashley's bras off of her nightstand in disgust.

Ashley scowled at her. "Write to me when you get the 'cleanest roommate of the month' award," she snarled. "For the time being, why don't you _leave?"_

Rose sighed. It was always back and forth between Ashley and Miranda and it was quite irritating after a while, especially because Rose always had to intervene before blood was shed.

"It's _our_ room too!"

"We outnumber you. _Leave."_

"No!"

"Yes!"

"_NO!"_

"_YES!"_

"GUYS!" shouted Rose. Everyone turned to look at her. "Enough with this bickering! It's frustrating and is pointless. Obviously you guys don't agree on lots of things but why can't we compromise? As long as Ashley doesn't allow her stuff to reach your guys' side of the room she can leave it where ever else she pleases, all right?"

Miranda snorted. "Whatever," she said. She walked out of the room, quickly followed by Justine.

"I hate her," muttered Ashley. "I bloody want to _strangle_ her."

"Aww, but that'd require a lot of tedious paperwork and sending you to Azkaban," said Rose dryly. "You wouldn't want to leave just me and Jessica with them, would you?"

Ashley smirked. "Fair enough. Come on, help me get this stuff cleaned up before 'the chips' come back." She had come up with that name for Ashley and Justine, saying that they think they are, "all that and a bag of chips".

Rose and Jessica laughed.

"Or we could do it the _easy_ way," said Rose, waving her wand. Everything immediately flew back to where it should go and Ashley gaped at her.

"Why couldn't you have done that _ages_ ago?" she cried.

Rose shrugged. "You didn't ask."

Ashley made a face. "You're one of those people I hate too," she joked.

"Touché."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The trip back to Kings Cross on the Hogwarts Express was uneventful and somewhat dull.

Ashley spent most of the trip flirting with Albus, not that he noticed, and talking about Quidditch with him and Scorpius. Both of them seemed impressed with everything she knew about the sport and Rose could not help but feel left out. She spent most of her trip reading _Quidditch Through the Ages_, knowing that the actual sport was better than reading about it.

Jessica also spent the trip reading a fashion magazine, though when Rose snuck a glance at her she noticed that she had not turned the page for the past ten minutes. She was slightly unsettled by this and when she looked back at her face she noticed Jessica's eyebrows were furrowed and she looked bothered.

Rose had an idea why this was but once more she did not say anything, especially not with Albus and Scorpius there, but mostly because Jessica did not like to be singled out in any situation.

So Rose kept her thoughts to herself, occasionally answering questions Scorpius asked her or jumping in when she knew the topic of conversation. Other than that, she did not speak because she did not know how they were going to explain the broomstick to her parents. She had shrunk it and it was now in her trunk, lying in between two shirts.

They finally came to a stop and they all took turns changing out of their robes and back to their Muggle clothing. They then picked up their trunks and began dragging them off the train and to the platform. Two at a time they went through the wall; Rose and Scorpius, Albus and Ashley, and then Jessica with the blonde-haired first year that Albus had seemed interested in on their boat ride across.

They finally reached the other side and looked around for their family.

Rose spotted hers first because of the clump of bright, red hair and ran into her mother's arms.

"Welcome back, Rosie," greeted Hermione. She hugged her daughter and then Rose moved over to her father.

"How was your second term?" he asked. "Did you beat everyone in your classes?"

"I swear, Ronald," sighed Hermione.

"I'm top of my class with Scorpius," she said.

"What's your favorite class?" asked Hermione.

"Definitely Charms," grinned Rose. "Just like mum!"

Both her parents laughed and she went around to hug everyone else, including her brother, uncles and aunts, grandparents, and anyone else who was part of the Weasley family one way or another.

She then noticed that Scorpius was no longer with them. She looked around the station and saw him standing solemnly with his mother and father.

Rose caught his eye and he mimed writing and she took it to mean he wanted her to write over the summer. She nodded and waved goodbye and so did he, until his father glared at him and he stopped abruptly.

Rose turned back to where James was occupying everyone with stories from Hogwarts, though many were not listening, Lily was hanging onto every word he spoke of the school.

Slowly, they all made their own way back to the parking lot, whether they were taking car or Apparating and set off for the Burrow for a traditional family dinner.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Having the entire family over for any occasion was always a lot of work for Molly, especially now that she was older. It involved cooking _a lot_ of food, extending the backyard, and making sure everyone had a chair, yet somehow someone ended up standing at one point or another.

Arthur and Molly sat at the two seats at the head and Mr. and Mrs. Granger on the other side (they typically joined them for family functions now). On Molly's right sat Harry with Ginny across from him on Arthur's right. Next to Ginny sat Hermione and across from her sat Ron. Next to Ron sat down Charlie and Bill to his left. Then sat Fleur, next to him along with little Dominique on her left. Next to Hermione plopped down Albus and then Lily on his right. Those two at the best of times were almost inseparable. Next to Lily sat Hugo and then next to him sat Lucy and across from her sat her father Percy. On Percy's left was Audrey, who happened to be sitting across from Lorcon. Luna made sure to put herself in the middle of Lorcon and Lysander so Lysander was forced to sit on her right. Across from Luna sat down James and then Victoire on his left and next to Victoire, a grinning Teddy. On Lysander's right sat Louis with Molly II across from him, she was sticking her tongue out at him for pulling her hair. On Molly II's left was Fred II and Rose chose to sit across from him, next to Louis. On Rose's right sat Angelina with Roxanne on her lap and George on her right and across from Angelina sat Rolf.

It was utter chaos once the food came out and everyone knew that if you left your plate unattended you would regret it.

"Dig in everyone!" shouted Molly, down the table.

Everyone immediately scrambled to get a few of everything since when eating with thirty-six other people food became scarce _fast._

"So, how are things at the Ministry going?" asked Ron to Harry. He now worked with George at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes ever since Fred died.

"Same as usual," said Harry, cutting his pork chop. "Things are finally getting better now that Kingsley is Minister. Isn't that right Arthur?"

"Yes indeed," agreed Arthur jovially. "Things are finally getting put into action. Did you know we had fifteen regurgitating toilets though? It's like déjà vu all over again."

Harry laughed. "I remember that when we had to go to my Ministry hearing in my fifth year that happened. God-knows-what flying everywhere on Muggles…"

"Please not at the dinner table, Harry dear," begged Molly. Mr. and Mrs. Granger were already looking a little ill. They had been two of the few who had it happen to them. It was still vivid in their memories.

"All right, sorry Molly," said Harry sheepishly. "I heard there were some difficulties in your department Hermione."

Hermione sighed and laid down her fork. She nodded.

"Yes, the house elves are not cooperating with us and refuse _still_ to take health benefits, etc."

Percy spit out his pumpkin juice.

"You're _still _continuing with that ludicrous spew?" cried Percy, wiping his mouth and cleaned the pumpkin juice off Lucy.

Hermione scowled at him.

"Yes, I am continuing _S.P.E.W_," said Hermione coldly, "and it is _not _ludicrous!"

"Aunt Hermione, what is spew?" asked Lily who had yet to hear lectures about this.

Everyone Rose's age and up at the table groaned, besides Hermione. The younger kids looked around confused.

"It's not _spew _Lily dear," began Hermione. "It's S.P.E.W, otherwise known as the Society Promotion of Elfish Welfare…"

"Hermione, can you please save the description for another time, some of us want to eat in peace," said Ron. She glared at him.

"_Anyway,"_ said Harry hastily. "How was your first year at Hogwarts?" he yelled down to Albus. "Hopefully less eventful from ours?"

Albus laughed. "Definitely!" he shouted back. "The most _interesting_ thing was Rose getting –" But he was cut off by Rose throwing a chicken bone at him.

Everyone looked at them confused.

"What'd Rose get?" asked Teddy puzzled.

"A better mark than Albus," said Rose improvising, glaring at Albus.

"'Atta girl, Rosie!" cheered Ron. Harry smacked him and everyone laughed.

"Yes, but _Al_ will be a professional Quidditch player," bragged Harry. Ginny rolled her eyes and Rose made sure not to look Albus in the eye.

"Isn't there a rule such as no bragging at the dinner table?" asked Ginny amused.

"Yes, I believe I heard that one," said Molly quickly. "Ronald, would you pass the chicken?" she asked sharply.

Ron made a face and did so, causing everyone to laugh behind his or her hands.

_We sure are an interesting family_ thought Rose. It was then that someone brought up the idea that they all sleep over tonight and that got Rose's adrenaline up tenfold.

Looks like she was not going to be able to explain the broomstick tonight, thank Merlin.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"When do you plan on telling your parents?" asked Albus.

"When I figure out how," said Rose, lying in her bed that night. She looked up at the ceiling tiredly. "I'm going to write to Scorpius –"

"There's a shocker," snickered Albus. Rose shot him a dirty look.

"I'm going to ask him how I should approach it. He said he would do it himself…but I don't think dad would be too receptive to him explaining it. He'll probably be upset because of money reasons."

Albus nodded. He rolled over on his side and no one spoke for ten minutes. Just when Rose thought he had fallen asleep he asked:

"You're friends with Ashley, right?"

Rose looked at him surprised.

"Erm – yeah, I am," she said confused. She hoped this was not going where she thought it was.

"She seems to like me," said Albus lost in thought. Rose did not say anything, mostly because she did not want to confirm anything unless she knew Albus felt the same way. Apparently he was not as oblivious as he sometimes let on.

"How do I tell her that I don't feel the same way?" he asked quietly.

Rose's heart sank. How would he tell Ashley such a thing? Oh, Merlin.

"I don't know," was all Rose said.

Albus turned onto his back again and stared at the ceiling also.

"I kind of like that girl who was on the boat with us," said Albus, still quietly. "The one with the blonde pigtails. She's cute. Do you know her name?"

Rose nodded, and then remembered it was too dark for him to see it.

"Yeah. Anna Marie from Hufflepuff."

"She was my partner in Herbology one day. She's quiet but once she warms up to you she can't stop talking." He smiled. "I was thinking about asking her out next year but I wouldn't know how to go about doing it."

Rose was now stuck in between a rock and a hard place. How was she going to tell Ashley that Albus did not feel the same way? She would be crushed and Rose did not want to be that person to break her heart.

"You should tell Ashley," she said. Albus looked at her.

"So it's true? She likes me?" he asked. Rose did not say anything and Albus took that as his answer. He cursed. "She's really fun but she's a friend. I can't see her as anything else, at least not now."

"Anna's different though. She isn't as loud as Ashley and while loud can make for interesting and funny, it can get obnoxious after a while. Besides, Ashley has fifty other guys chasing after her and while Anna is just as pretty, no one is currently after her."

Rose did not know why he was telling her all of this. Usually Albus was more conservative with his thoughts and did not lay them on the table so blatantly.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" asked Rose, voicing her thoughts. "It'll only make it more complicated because I'm friends with Ashley!"

"I thought you'd be willing to listen and voice some advice since you're good at that," said Albus coldly. "I guess I was wrong. Goodnight Rose." He turned over again and Rose regretted voicing her thoughts at all.

She sighed and turned over as well, her mind spinning at everything she had just heard.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"You look terrible Rose," said Lily the next morning.

She felt terrible too. She had not slept well at all last night and tossed and turned, torn between what she should do about Ashley and guilt about the broomstick still shrunken in her trunk.

"Thanks," she said dryly, sitting down with everyone else. She could only imagine what she must have looked like because everyone was shooting her furtive looks of concern.

"Are you okay?" asked Lysander, her younger sort-of cousin.

"I'm fine, thank you," she said, smiling at him. "I just have a lot on my mind."

Just then Albus came in as well, also looking tired and his hair more messy than usual. His green eyes had dark circles underneath them and were bloodshot. It looked like he had been crying but Rose knew that could not be. Albus never cried!

"Albus, what's wrong?" asked Ginny, shocked when he walked over to the table like a dead-man.

Albus did not say anything and poured himself a cup of coffee. He hated coffee.

"Al, you _hate_ coffee," pointed out James. He looked concernedly at his brother.

Albus still did not say anything and drank the coffee, though he could not hide his distaste for it. He looked at everyone and they quickly averted their eyes.

"I didn't realize I was such an interesting piece to study," he said coldly. They were all taken aback by his harshness and only Rose knew why he was so distraught.

"Albus Severus Potter," warned Harry. He seldom called Albus by his full name unless he was about to be, or was in, trouble.

Albus abruptly put is coffee cup down and walked away from the table and back inside of the house. No one spoke and both of his parents looked after him concerned.

Lily made to get up and follow him but Rose held her back. Lily looked at Rose baffled.

"I think your brother needs to be alone for a little while," she whispered.

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A/N: Please review!


	13. Of Parks and Buzz lightyear

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**A/N:** Where are all my reviews? I know you guys are out there! Please?

**A Mudblood's Daughter and a Savior's Son**

By LilyxJames4ever

Chapter 13 – Of Parks and Buzz light-year

Rose and Albus did not speak to each other for the next few weeks. Rose's family left the Burrow the next day and went back to their house, which was incidentally next to the Potter's.

So now it was Saturday morning and Rose woke up from a noise outside. She had looked out her window and saw James and Albus flying outside since after all, it was a Wizard town.

She closed her shades, mostly because she did not want to think about her fight with Albus and decided to write a letter to Scorpius. The only problem was she could not think of what to say.

_Dear Scorpius,_

_Things are crazy…_

She crumpled the paper and threw it to the garbage but missed. Perhaps being a Chaser was not her destiny if she could not even make it into the wastebasket.

_Hey Scorpius,_

She threw this on the ground also.

Five minutes later, there had to be at least thirty different versions of this on the ground and Rose was resting her forehead in her palms. She could not concentrate with Albus, James, and Lily being obnoxiously loud outside. She almost wanted to go out there with them and play also, on her new broom, but she knew she could not.

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she sighed.

Hermione walked in smiled slightly and brought a sandwich to her table, along with a glass of milk.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked concerned. "You look stressed and like you haven't slept in a while."

"I haven't," said Rose wearily.

Hermione sat down on her bed. "I'm here if you want to talk, you know."

Rose nodded. She explained to her mum about everything that happened with Albus, Ashley, and Anna. She also told her about her suspicions about Jessica, Miranda and Justine, and Scorpius.

"Okay, hold on, let's tackle one thing at a time," said Hermione smiling. She was glad that Rose felt she could tell her what was going on in her life and not keep it to herself. What she did not know is that Rose had not mentioned the broomstick yet.

"Let's start with Albus and Ashley. She said that she likes him?" Rose nodded. "But he likes this girl Anna?" She nodded again. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," said Rose honestly. "Should I tell Ashley?"

"I don't think so," said Hermione. "You should let Albus talk to her and although you're her friend, it's probably worse to hear it from you. Albus has to learn to deal with his own problems and by you telling her it's taking the easy way out for him."

Rose nodded but looked hesitant. "I don't think he's going to tell her though. I mean, he likes her as a friend and I don't think he wants to ruin it."

"Well, shame on him," said Hermione honestly. "He should take into consideration her feelings and not lead her on."

Rose nodded once more. "What about Jessica? I think she may like Albus too but is too afraid to say anything, especially around Ashley."

Hermione sighed. "I honestly don't know about that. It's obvious that Jessica is afraid that it might ruin hers and Ashley's friendship and from what you've told me about Ashley…that might just happen. You should talk to her when you get back to school."

"And Miranda and Justine?"

"Oh, there are always girls like that," shrugged Hermione. "I had them in my dormitory, maybe not as bad, but close. They're everywhere and the best you can do is ignore it and don't give them a reason to target you."

Rose nodded. Her mother always gave her good advice like this and she was grateful for it.

Hermione smiled. "And Scorpius?"

"What about him?" asked Rose quickly.

"Do you like him?"

"As a friend. Nothing more!" said Rose, her ears burning.

"Okay, I'm sorry for asking." She looked at Rose closely. "There's something else, isn't there?"

Rose shifted uncomfortably.

"You know you can tell me anything and I won't judge you, Rose," Hermione said softly.

Rose nodded for what seemed like the millionth time and tried to swallow the lump the size of a walnut now in her throat.

"Sc – Scorpius got me a broomstick for my birthday," she said miserably.

Hermione could not contain the shock this gave her.

"He got you a _broomstick?"_ said Hermione incredulously. "Why in Merlin's name would he do that?"

"He knows I like Quidditch," she said quietly.

"You like Quidditch?" said Hermione surprised. Rose nodded. "Okay, sorry back on topic. Your father is going to have a stroke when he hears about this."

"We don't have to tell him," said Rose, smiling slightly. Hermione allowed a small smile also.

"How could he afford to buy you a broomstick?"

"I asked him that and he said he was a Malfoy," said Rose dryly. Hermione sighed.

"I'd better go tell your father about this. Perhaps you should go outside and –"

There was a knock on Rose's window.

Rose stood up and pulled back the shades to see an exuberant Lily floating outside.

"Hey Rose," she greeted once Rose opened her window. "Will you come outside and play? I need a teammate and you know brothers, they just have to gang up on the younger sibling."

Rose smiled. "Sure. You're timing is actually impeccable. I'll be out in ten minutes."

She looked out and saw Albus chasing after James on his broomstick, obviously taking something that had belonged to him. She could tell he had heard their conversation though, for he looked somewhat unhappy.

She closed the window and smiled at her mother, though Hermione could tell it was forced.

"Good luck with dad," she said. "I had better exit through the window."

Hermione nodded and then because she could not help herself she asked, "What type of broomstick did he get you?"

"A Firebolt 2001."

Hermione cringed. "This isn't going to be easy."

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Rose was dressed, like she said she would be, ten minutes later and ran into her room from the bathroom and opened her trunk. She took out the shrunken broomstick and put it back to its original size. It was a fairly simple spell that a fifth year had taught her before they left for the holiday.

She opened the window up and mounted her broomstick and shot through the window.

Rose felt relieved that her mother knew about the broomstick now and was free to ride it as much as she pleased. It felt like she had just removed a heavy weight off of her chest.

She flew over to where Lily was and greeted her. Lily nearly fell off her broomstick when she saw Rose's.

"You have a Firebolt 2001?" she cried. "That's the top racing broom there is! How'd you get it? I heard they're really hard to come by."

Rose made a face and looked at the ground.

"Scorpius got it for me," she muttered.

Lily's eyes bugged out. "Does Uncle Ron know?"

"My mum is going to tell him now. She said I should go outside and that's when you knocked on my window." Rose smiled slightly.

"My timing really is good," grinned Lily. "Now come on, we have some boy butt to kick!"

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All in all, Rose and Lily won the game because of Rose's amazing broomstick and left James and Albus annoyed and in the dust.

"Good game guys," said Rose, un-mounting her broom.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll win next time," joked James. "Right Al?"

Albus nodded and instead of getting off his broom, he flew back into the air and through his own window to take a shower.

"He's been down for the past few weeks," said James worriedly. He rarely showed concern for his brother so Rose knew that he must be truly worried. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"He hasn't told you?" said Rose surprised. James shook his head. "It's school stuff." She nodded pointedly in Lily's direction, indicating that she did not want to talk about it here and now.

Lily huffed and walked back towards her house. Rose turned back to James.

"It's girl stuff and incidentally it involves my friend," sighed Rose. "He's bent out of shape and I can't say I blame him to _some_ extent. I wouldn't bring it up unless he comes to you with it though."

James nodded. "Okay," was all he said. He then bid goodbye to Rose and walked back into his house.

Rose flew back into her room and could hear screaming from downstairs. She sighed, knowing it was her father yelling because of the broomstick and her mother screaming back because it would be the only way to get through to him.

Rose started when she heard a vase crash downstairs and decided to take a shower, mostly to drain out the yelling. It did not work.

When she was done, she got dressed and wrapped a towel around her hair and held it there. She walked to the top of the stairs where Hugo was sitting. His eyes looked slightly red and Rose put her fingers to her lips so he would not get them discovered.

"Why the bloody hell would he go out and buy her a _broomstick?"_ shouted Ron. "What ever happened to buying someone a _book_ for their birthday?"

"I don't know Ronald but he obviously cares a lot about her!" screamed Hermione, her voice slightly hoarse. It sounded like she had been crying also. "Why can't you just accept it? There's nothing we can do to change it now!"

"They're bloody _twelve!"_ yelled Ron. "No boy should be caring about our daughter that young!"

"Just because some boys mature faster than you doesn't mean they're too young to care for someone! Personally, I'm glad that someone besides James and Albus are watching out for her!"

"SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO BE DATING LET ALONE RECEIVING _BROOMSTICKS_ FROM A GUY!"

"THEY ARE NOT DATING! SHE DOESN'T FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT HIM SO WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ACCEPT THAT HE LIKES HER?"

"BECAUSE HE'S A MALFOY!"

Rose gasped, tears in her eyes. Hugo smiled weakly at her, trying to comfort her without getting them found.

"THAT'S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT? I THOUGHT YOU GOT OVER ABOUT YOUR DAMN PROBLEM WITH HIM! DRACO MIGHT HAVE BEEN VILE IN SCHOOL BUT THAT _DOES NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE_ MEAN SCORPIUS IS THE SAME! AS FAR AS I CAN SEE, HE'S MORE LIKE HIS MOTHER THAN HIS FATHER!"

Rose felt like the house was vibrating, which it basically was from all the yelling. Suddenly she heard two cracks.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" asked Ginny incredulously. "There are neighbors complaining outside that people are yelling and that there are crashes!"

"Ronald is bent out of shape because Scorpius Malfoy gave Rose a broomstick for her birthday," explained Hermione, sounding more livid by the minute.

"Oh yeah, Lily told us about that," said Harry uncomfortably. Addressing Ron he said, "You wouldn't happen to be more upset about this because it's Draco's son, would you?"

Ron did not reply and Rose had a feeling he was still fuming.

"He's a son-of-a-bitch," growled Ron finally. "And I can't believe that _Scorpius_ is any different from him. It runs in their family. They almost killed us nearly twenty years ago!"

Rose's tears were freely falling now and she could listen to this no longer. She walked to her room and slammed the door behind her, loud enough so they could hear it downstairs.

She listened at her door and heard nothing but utter silence and then footsteps.

"Rose, please open the door," pleaded Hermione. Rose ignored her and grabbed her broomstick and opened the window. "Please Rose, your father didn't mean what he said!"

She mounted her broomstick with her wand and flew out of the window into the night, planning on coming back but not until she cleared her head some.

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The door was not locked so Hermione turned the knob and saw the curtain flying slightly in the breeze. She gasped.

"She left," said Hermione horrified.

"She'll be back," comforted Ginny. "If she was planning on leaving she would have taken something with her. Trust me, I've contemplated running away at one point or another. You don't just drop _everything_."

Hermione was slightly reassured but only slightly. She knew Rose could take care of herself but did not know what dangers would be out there waiting for her.

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Rose flew over Muggle London making sure to stay behind the clouds or else risking being seen and reported. She did not know where she was going or how long she would be gone but knew she could not stay home right now. Not when her dad was being so unreasonable.

She begin heading down by trees that would conceal her and landed in a park that she was familiar with. Her mother used to bring her and Hugo to this park when they were younger and they would play on the jungle gym until their heart was content.

She sat down on the swings where so many had sat before her and just thought. She stared at the little kids running around, for it was not yet dark.

They then left and she heard a rustling from behind her.

She jumped to her feet, her hand itching to go to her wand but only at the last second.

The bush rustled again and out came a stray dog.

Rose's heart immediately melted. She loved dogs but had never been allowed to have one for whatever reason.

She slowly approached the dog, making sure he did not run away and checked to see what type of dog he was. He did not have blue eyes or a pink nose so that was a good sign.

The dog ran up to her immediately and allowed her to pet him. She laughed and scratched behind his ear. The dog enjoyed that immensely.

"You seem almost human," laughed Rose. She then sighed. "Although…that's not a very good comparison because human's aren't as loyal as dogs."

The dark barked as if barking his approval.

She moved over to the slide that she had climbed on and went down so many times. The dog followed her as if she owned him and when she sat down, he put his head in her lap. She continued scratching his behind his ears absentmindedly.

"My father is so stuck on not accepting Scorpius because of Mr. Malfoy," said Rose. "He's stuck on the surname and can't get over everything Mr. Malfoy has done in the past." The dog barked again. "That's just it though, we're not in the past anymore. We're in the _present_ and future. Scorpius isn't anything like my father says. He's better than that."

"The broomstick is another story. It was completely generous but unnecessary. You should have seen my cousin Lily's expression when she saw it. She nearly fell off her own broom!"

"Mum and dad fight often but never like this. Usually it's just a silly fight that ends with both of them laughing and kissing each other but this was different. Mum was crying and I seldom see her cry like that. I think dad's the only one who has that effect on her and I think he knows it to some extent."

"I get my anger from him at the best of times. I'm a Weasley hole-and-hole, right down to my ears turning red when I'm angry or embarrassed. Sometimes I feel like –"

She stopped midsentence, hearing more rustling behind her and knowing that this was not the sound of an animal. She was in danger now if it was a human.

"Who's there?" she asked and was terrified to find that her voice sounded timid.

There was some more rustling and a figure appeared and then stopped dead.

"_Rose?"_ cried a voice in surprise.

"Teddy?" said Rose, also surprised. "What are you doing out here in the middle of night in Muggle London?"

"I could ask you the same question!" he cried. "I, on the other hand, am of age and can wander around as I please. Why aren't you home? It's not safe for a twelve-year-old to be out here. Anyone could be lurking around here."

"I needed someone to talk to."

Teddy looked down at the dog.

"He's not rabid, is he?"

Rose shook her head. "He's quite friendly, actually and an exceptional listener."

The dog barked proudly, making Rose believe that he actually understood her.

"You still shouldn't be here. You're underage and anything could happen to you. Merlin, do you know the creepers that could be out here?"

"I get it," said Rose annoyed. She turned back to the dog longingly. She wanted to bring him home but knew her mother would never go for it and then she looked at her broomstick.

The dog whimpered, also realizing that he would end up back where he started. Alone.

"I can't leave him here," said Rose. "I feel like – I don't know, like we have a connection somewhere…somehow. I can't just let him wander off into nowhere again."

"He might have an owner, Rose," said Teddy gently. "How would you feel if someone came and took Fred away from you?"

Rose felt like her heart had plummeted.

"I'd be devastated," murmured Rose. "He doesn't even have a nametag or a collar though! He might not belong to anyone or they may have just thrown him away! It's freezing out here and no one deserves to be abandoned!"

Teddy sighed. "It's not up to me to decide whether you can keep him or not. Come on, I'll bring you home."

"How?"

Teddy laughed. "Believe it or not, your mother talked me into getting a Muggle drivers license."

Rose snorted. "Oh please, she talked _everyone_ into getting a license."

Teddy laughed and they walked to his car. Rose got in the passengers seat and put her broomstick and dog in the back.

After driving through London for ten minutes Teddy broke the silence and said:

"If you don't mind my asking, what were you doing out in the middle of the night anyway?"

Rose made a face. "My parents were fighting because my mum told my dad that Scorpius got me this broomstick."

Teddy raised an eyebrow and nearly crashed the car.

"Sorry," he said. "I thought I heard you say Scorpius, as in Scorpius _Malfoy_." Rose nodded. "Why in Merlin's name would he get you a broomstick?"

"We're friends and he got it for me for my birthday," explained Rose. Upon seeing his expression she added, "I told him he was crazy but he didn't listen!"

"He must really like you to get you a _broomstick_."

Rose blushed and said nothing, mostly because she did not know what to say. She never knew what to say around Teddy since he was so matter-of-fact. It often unnerved her and she found herself speechless.

They drove the rest of the way to her house in silence and when they arrived Teddy did not get out of the car with her.

"Let your parents know I say hi," said Teddy. As an afterthought he added, "I hope everything will be okay."

Rose smiled. "Thanks Teddy," she said and watched as he drove back in the other direction.

She sighed and debated flying back through her window but looked up and noticed it was closed. She cursed and realized she would have to walk through her house to get to her room.

She carefully opened the door and walked in, allowing the dog to walk in and closed it softly behind her. She walked up the steps and motioned for the dog to follow her and he obeyed. Obviously he was well trained.

She got into the hallway and almost made it into her room but she banged her broomstick on the doorframe, making a loud noise. She inwardly cursed and motioned the dog to run into her room before he was seen.

"What's that?" yelled Hugo. Rose rolled her eyes. Leave it to her brother to be the one to draw attention to her.

"What's what, dear?" asked Hermione from downstairs. She walked up the stairs and when she saw Rose she ran and hugged her tightly.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she scolded. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! Ronald, Rose is back!"

There was pounding and Ron came running up the stairs and hugged Rose also.

"Don't ever run off like that again," he said. This was strange because he usually was not the stern parent. "You nearly gave your mother a heart attack."

"I take it the fight's over?"

Both of her parents looked at her sheepishly.

"You heard that?" asked Hermione.

"I think the whole neighborhood did."

"I'm sorry Rosie, I would have never said that if I knew you where listening," apologized Ron.

"It shouldn't have mattered! Scorpius _is not_ like Mr. Malfoy no matter how much you want to believe it. I've seen it first hand how much he detests Slytherin and anyone who was related to Voldemort! If you can't accept the fact that I'm friends with him then I have nothing else to say to you."

Both of her parents stared at her, wide-eyed. All of a sudden there was a bark.

"What was that?" asked Ron immediately.

Rose inwardly groaned.

"Erm – I guess I forgot to mention that I found a stray dog in the park."

"A _dog?"_ cried Ron.

"You were in a _park?"_ said Hermione incredulously.

"That old park that you used to take me and Hugo to."

"You went all the way out to _London?"_

"By the way, Teddy says hi."

Hermione walked into Rose's room and gasped when she saw the dog curled up on the ground.

"What's going on?" asked Hugo, coming out in his pajamas. Then he saw the dog and Ron and Hermione knew there would be no getting rid of him now. "We have a dog?" he cried gleefully. He ran up to the dog and began playing with him, much to the dog's enjoyment.

"Can we keep him?" asked Hugo, less than ten seconds later.

"Oh honey, I don't know," began Hermione but then Hugo gave both of his parents the puppy-dog eyes that always made them melt whether they liked it or not.

"He may have an owner," said Ron, having trouble not staring into those eyes and giving in. Hermione looked at him, surprised that he was actually being the responsible one for a change.

"He had no nametag," pointed out Rose. Hermione's lip twitched slightly.

"You're going to be gone the whole year," pointed out Hermione in an attempt to win. "What's he going to do then? Sit home alone?"

"Lily's next door. She'll love him and she and Hugo can play with him!"

Ron sighed and looked at Hermione.

"You know who's going to end up walking him, right?" he joked halfheartedly. Hermione smiled.

"Fine, you can keep him," she said warily. "But you guys have to pitch in and help take care of him!"

"YAY!" screamed both Rose and Hugo. They ran to hug their parents, completely forgetting the argument earlier and Rose went out again to tell Lily the good news. She also squealed when she found out.

"Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum!" cried Lily, running around the house. "Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Momma! Momma! Momma! Momma! Momma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Mum! Mum! Mum!"

"WHAT IS IT LILY?" cried Ginny, running in annoyed.

"Rose got a dog! Can I play with him and Hugo when they go back to school?"

Ginny wiped her hands on her apron. "As long as it's okay with Aunt Hermione and your uncle."

Lily cheered and ran around the house excitedly again. Rose laughed and sensed someone was looking at her. She turned around and saw Albus sitting there in the corner. He motioned for her to come over so she sat down next to him.

"Where'd you find a dog?" he asked quietly.

"A park in London."

"What were you doing in London?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Trying to clear my head a little. I've been feeling a little stressed lately."

Albus looked embarrassedly at his hands.

"I'm sorry for adding to your plate," he muttered.

"So am I…that I added to yours, I mean," said Rose quickly. Albus laughed. "It just seems like everything is happening so fast and this should be happening _later._ Like in our third and fourth year."

Albus nodded. "We should try and enjoy what time we have young. At least that's what my dad always tells me."

"I wouldn't take advice like that from anyone _but_ him since he knows firsthand what it's like to grow up too fast." She looked at Albus. "So are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good." He leaned over and hugged her and Rose leaned back and then laughed.

"I should get going before Hugo names him something stupid," she grinned. "When I left he said he wanted to name him Buzz light-year, after a fictional Muggle character. That's all we need, Muggle social services knocking down our door."

Albus laughed. "Okay, I'll let you save your new dog and I'll try and calm down Lily. Merlin knows that girl is hyped up enough as it is!"

Rose laughed and bid goodbye before she left the room and walked back to her house. She walked in the door and heard a scream.

"Here Nantucket!" cried Hugo.

_Oh Merlin._

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A/N: Please review!


	14. Knockturn Alley and Lucky

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**A Mudblood's Daughter and a Savior's Son**

By LilyxJames4ever

Chapter 14 – Knockturn Alley and Lucky

Rose and Hugo, after much bickering, finally decided to name their dog Lucky because both him and Rose were lucky to find each other.

He immediately adapted to the family but by far he loved Rose the most and seldom left her side. The feeling was mutual and Rose knew they would both be sad when the time came and they would have to part. Hogwarts, after all, was only half a month away.

Rose was walking with him alone one day in the park nearby her house and sat down on the bench. He curled up by her feet like he always did during their walks and they both calmly watched as the birds flew by.

Summertime was definitely better now that her and Albus had gotten on better terms and she had finally managed to write a letter to Scorpius.

He had written back almost immediately saying that he could not wait for the school year to start, mostly because he could not wait for Quidditch. Rose, however, got the impression that his home life was something of little desire.

Rose had also been thinking about Teddy lately. She did not have a crush on him or anything, no he was _way_ too old for her! Though, she often thought about what could have happened to her if he did not show up. She wanted to do something for him to repay him, mostly because of gratitude but also because she was embarrassed. From where he stood, she probably looked like a rebellious almost teenage girl and she did not want to be seen as such.

She looked at the clouds passing by and did not hear Lucky's barks, quickly escalating as a figure approached her.

"Rose?" said a voice surprised.

Rose turned around and gasped.

"Scorpius!" she cried, jumping up and hugging him.

He laughed and when she let go he stared at her, still in shock.

For the month and a half that they had not seen each other, she seemed extremely different. She had gotten taller and had certainly developed more. It was also strange to see her in clothes that were not robes.

"How are you?" she was asking. "How's your summer been? Did you finish all of the assignments? Sit down!"

Scorpius laughed again and did as she insisted.

"I'm fine, thanks," he said amused. "My summer's been good, I suppose but I'm sure not as interesting as yours. Yes, I've finished the assignments and I'm sure you have too, most likely before me." Rose laughed, her laugh tinkling in his ears like a gracious melody.

"Why are you out here anyway? I thought you live like an hour away!"

"I do. I like to wander around though and somehow I ended up here." He laughed bitterly. "My parents probably won't notice I'm gone though so it's fine. I like to wander alone as opposed to listening to them fight."

Rose smiled sympathetically. Deciding to change the subject she asked, "I got your letter. What position do you want to try out for on the team?"

"Probably Chaser," he said. "I have by no means a Beater's built and I'm not speedy enough to be a Seeker and our team would lose for sure if I was Keeper." He laughed and so did Rose, albeit hesitantly. "What are you going to try out for?"

"I think Seeker," said Rose uncertainly. "Or perhaps Keeper. I'm not very good at throwing though."

"And how did your parents react to the broomstick?" asked Scorpius hesitantly. "Did your father explode?"

"My mum was fine about it, just initially shocked. My father on the other hand…it wasn't pretty. They had an upscale argument and – erm…"

"What?" asked Scorpius concerned. "Are you in trouble?"

"No, that's not it. I sort of – err, I ran off for a couple of hours."

"You did _what?"_ cried Scorpius. "Why?"

"I was upset! I hate when people fight and my dad was saying awful stuff about you and I couldn't take it. I grabbed my broomstick and flew off to an old park I used to play at in Muggle London."

"You flew to _London?"_ Rose nodded. "What happened then?"

"That's actually how I met Lucky here," she said, indicating to the dog resting by her feet. "I was sitting on the bench when I heard the bush rustle and he came out of it and followed me to the slide. That's when I sat down and was talking to him and then I heard more noise."

"Who was it?" asked Scorpius, his voice barely audible.

"Teddy Lupin. I don't know why he had come but he did and when he saw me he took me back home in his car. I probably would have been in danger if he had not been there."

Scorpius said nothing but only stared at Rose.

"You were mental to think that it would be safe wandering around in the middle of the night in a park," said Scorpius. "You could have – you could have been – anything could have happened!"

"I know. I _know._ I understand that I screwed up and I acted thoughtless," said Rose. "I've already been punished for it and I get that I'm definitely never going to do _that_ again."

"Good. I can't believe that the birthday present I gave you ended up being an escape tool!"

Rose laughed and looked down at Lucky. He was watching the butterflies as they flew around with a hungry look in his eyes but Rose had trained him to not chase other animals or species.

"I'd better get going before my parents worry. I was only supposed to be gone for ten minutes and that turned into thirty." She stood up, as did he. "I'll see you in a few weeks, Scorp."

She stood on her toes and hugged him, noticing that he had gotten slightly taller over the summer.

He hugged her back, hoping that one day he would not have to let go so soon. He did though and he waved goodbye as she walked back to her house and then walked back in the other direction towards his own.

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Once Rose had dropped Lucky back in her house and she saw to it that Hugo was with him, she walked over to Albus' backyard. She saw him sitting under the tree that had been there forever working on last minute homework.

She rolled her eyes. This was typical Albus to wait to the last minute.

"Waiting until the last minute to finish, are we?" she teased, walking over to him.

He made a face. "Oh please. If I was like you and Scorp, I'd have no life."

Rose play smacked him and they both laughed. She sat down next to him under the tree that they used to play hide-and-seek behind.

"So what's up?" he asked, grateful for an excuse to not to continue his homework. Rose snorted.

"Oh, you don't care about my life. All you want is an excuse not to continue working and I don't think your mother would be too pleased with me if I provided a distraction."

Albus rolled his eyes. "If you were really my cousin and my best friend you'd do _anything_ for me, including this."

"Even if it means watching you fail out of school next year?"

"Absolutely. Besides, Scorpius is always there for me!"

Rose snorted. "He'd be pleased to here that. Speaking of Scorpius, I ran into him before I came him."

Albus spit out the water he had taken a drink of. Rose grinned.

"How the bloody hell did you run into Scorpius Malfoy? He lives over an hour away!"

Rose looked uncomfortable. "He said he likes to escape his house and walk around blindly. He didn't seem to be bothered though. In fact, he seemed kind of relieved to run into a familiar face."

Albus smirked. "I'm sure he's glad he ran into you and not me."

"Shut up. Anyway, he said he's good and he's going to try out for Chaser next year."

"Wicked. What about you?"

"Seeker or Keeper. But…you want to be Seeker, right?"

Albus fidgeted. "Yeah."

"I'd happily try out for Keeper if it means you becoming Seeker," she said hastily. "I would never want to get in the way of you being in the spot you want especially because you've been playing longer than I have."

Albus smiled. "Thanks Rose." He then turned grim and looked at his Transfiguration assignment. "Is there any chance that if I look at it hard enough it'll write itself?"

"Doubtful," snorted Rose, standing up. "Try that though and maybe it'll catch on fire. That'd be interesting."

Albus scowled and also stood up. He looked up at the tree.

"I'm going to go inside. I'm sick of sitting under this damn tree and having to dodge bird crap." Rose laughed. "Also, would you like to switch our younger siblings? Lily is driving James and I, and anyone else who'll listen, crazy over Lucky. All we hear about is how we should be jealous that she gets to spend the whole year with him alone."

"Ha, Hugo will never leave her alone with him. Besides, I'd gladly switch siblings. Hugo's been a right pain in the backside over naming him and now he's trying to get us to make a separate room for him. Please, Lily would be refreshing."

Albus laughed. "I'll have my people contact your people and by my people…I mean James."

Rose grinned. "I'll be waiting." She waved goodbye and walked out the gate and into her own house where her newly extended family awaited her.

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The final weeks of summer flew by far too fast for Rose's liking. Although she was looking forward to entering her second year at Hogwarts and seeing Scorpius again, she would miss her family and of course, her new dog Lucky. He was the most adorable thing she had ever fallen upon in her life and even he could sense that she would be leaving soon.

Her final days at home he would be seen following her on her heels and never leaving her alone unless she went to the bathroom and she _made_ him stay out. Other than that; he ate, slept, and played near her.

Lucky also loved Hugo and was getting used to the idea of having him to play with in Rose's absence. She had no idea what he would do when Hugo went off to Hogwarts but she supposed that they would cross that bridge when they got there.

"I'm going to miss you so much Lucky," she sighed, scratching behind his ears one morning. "You're so loyal and you don't judge me even when I do stupid things. Of course, going to the park was stupid because I could have gotten hurt but it was worth it because I found you. I don't know what I would have done without you these past few weeks. I guess things do happen for reasons…"

"Rose!" called Hermione. Rose stopped talking abruptly. "We have to go to Diagon Alley today! We're meeting Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny with the others at noon!"

"Coming mum!" replied Rose, pulling her shoes on. Lucky whimpered and she looked at him. "I'm sorry Lucky but we're going to have to leave you here. We can't take a dog to Diagon Alley. Will you be okay for several hours?"

Lucky barked, insinuating that he would be and that he would watch over the house.

"Good boy," said Rose, pouring some treats into his bowl and giving him some fresh water. She began tying her shoes. "Keep a close eye on everything, okay?"

He barked again and she scratched behind his ears once more before walking out of the room.

"Take some Floo Powder, dear," said Hermione. "You first Ronald."

Ron took some of the powder and ducked as he stepped into the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley," he said, making sure to annunciate.

The green flames engulfed him and whisked him off.

"You next Hugo."

He repeated what his father had done and was also sent on his way to the town.

Rose took some Floo of her own now and stepped into the fireplace. She had never been crazy about this way of traveling but it was the most efficient way if you were underage.

"Diagon Alley," she said quickly.

"Rose -!" her mom cried but the flames engulfed her before she could hear the rest.

She thought she heard a distant scream and felt nauseous as she kept spinning and spinning around. She could not tell when to step out so she did so randomly and regretted it almost soon after.

Rose tumbled and fell into an abandoned shop, no longer of any use after the second war.

She looked around and saw many items broken in it, including a severed looking hand. She then stood up and brushed off her jeans, having fallen to the ground because of losing balance.

She was about to exit the shop when she heard voices approaching the shop.

She panicked and jumped into the nearest thing she could find. An antiquated, broken many times, cabinet.

In entered a man with blonde hair, receding slightly, and a younger boy, whom Rose could not believe she was seeing.

It was Scorpius and his father.

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"Where's Rose?" asked Ron confused. "Didn't you send her before you?"

"She didn't come? Oh Merlin, this is like what happened to Harry all over again! I don't think she annunciated properly!"

"Don't panic, I'm sure she didn't get far," said Ron, trying not to panic himself. "Perhaps she ended up in Knockturn Alley like he did. Let's go find him and ask exactly where he ended up."

It did not take long for them to walk into Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron and find the Potter's.

"You haven't seen Rose, have you?" asked Hugo.

"No…did she run off again?" asked Harry worriedly.

"No. We traveled by Floo Powder and I think that she got out at the wrong grate like you did," explained Hermione. "Where exactly did you end up?"

"Borgin and Burkes," said Harry. "Come on, I bet you that's where she is and trust me, there are some dodgy blokes down there."

Hermione's eyes widened in fear and Ron shot Harry a look.

"Sorry."

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Rose could not believe that Scorpius was in such a dodgy place like Borgin and Burkes. However, from her observation he did not look to thrilled either. In her opinion he actually looked quite spiteful to be in there and looked at the items in disgust.

"I came in here with my father when I was your age and now you shall do the same. I just have to check something," said Draco. He walked over to the cabinet and breathed.

"What's that?" asked Scorpius, trying not to show his interest.

"A Vanishing cabinet," replied Draco heavily. "I fixed it in my sixth year at Hogwarts but it appears to have fallen back into disrepair. Borgin must have done something to it so no one from Hogwarts could get in here."

He put his hand on the handle of the cabinet but just then the door reopened and to Rose's shock, in entered her Uncle Harry and the rest of her family following him.

"Potter," said Draco stiffly.

"What are you doing in here, Draco?" he asked. He snuck a look at the cabinet.

"I don't believe I have to explain my whereabouts to you, Potter. What are _you_ doing here?"

"I have reason to believe something is in here that I need," said Harry calmly.

Draco looked taken aback and Scorpius looked at Albus as he entered the store. He caught his eye and rolled his own slightly. Albus stifled a laugh.

"What could you possibly need in a store like this?"

"I could ask you the same question. Borgin's been dead for years. What are you doing back here?"

Draco did not answer and looked at the cabinet and to Rose's relief, he took his hand off of the knob.

"I see. So since you have no business here I suggest you leave before anyone has awkward questions to ask," said Harry simply.

Draco pursed his lips. "Very well. Come Scorpius," he said.

He walked passed Ron without acknowledging him or Hermione and exited with Scorpius, whom before he left nodded to Albus.

"See you in school," he whispered. Albus nodded.

Once they had left, Harry made his way to the Vanishing cabinet and opened it to reveal Rose.

"I figured you'd be hiding in here," he grinned. He helped her out. "It comes in handy from time-to-time. It's a good thing it's broken though or you would have been whisked off to Hogwarts."

Rose shivered and thanked Harry. She then ran over to her mother and father.

"He's creepy," she whispered and they did not have to ask whom she was talking about.

"Tell me about it," muttered Ron. "He's a right git."

"They didn't see you?" asked James.

"No, I was too scared to come back out again," admitted Rose. "Can we please get out of here?"

Everyone nodded and they exited the abandoned shop and walked back up to the main street again. It was then that they stopped to actually talk.

"I'll take Rose, Albus, and James to the bookstore first and we'll make the rounds," said Harry. "How about the rest of you go and relax in the ice cream shop? I hear they have a new owner."

Everyone nodded and the four of them walked off to Flourish and Blotts.

Rose felt like she had entered heaven when she walked into the bookstore. It had been her favorite since the first time she stepped foot in it and felt it nothing short of a refugee.

She immediately walked off, much to the other's amusement and began searching for the books she needed and those she wanted for personal enjoyment.

She picked up one that looked interesting and began reading it. It turned out to be about Godric Gryffindor and his history with the other three founders. She found it to be quite fascinating and was deeply enthralled when she was interrupted.

"Careful. If you stare any harder at the book you might burn a whole through the page," joked Scorpius.

She turned around and smiled widely but her smile faded soon after.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Did I sprout a third eye?"

Rose laughed but it was forced. "No, of course not!" she cried. "Erm – I was just wondering…"

"Yes?" he pressed.

"What were you doing in Borgin and Burkes?" she blurted out.

Whatever he had expected, that was certainly not it. He scowled.

"My father made me go with –" he began. Then he stopped short. "Wait a minute. I didn't see you there with your family…how would you know I was in there?"

Rose looked slightly uncomfortable. Scorpius' eyes widened.

"Unless…were _you_ the thing your uncle needed? Were you in the Vanishing cabinet the whole time?" Rose did not reply and he gasped. "What the bloody hell were you doing down in Knockturn Alley?" he hissed.

"I got out at the wrong grate!" said Rose, jumping to her own defense. "I don't think I annunciated properly and I ended up there. I didn't know who was coming though so I hid in there and once you guys came in –"

"You were too afraid to come out?" said Scorpius, crossing his arms. Rose nodded. "Because of my father?"

"How do you think that would have looked if I came out suddenly? Out of a _broken Vanishing cabinet._ I would have looked like a bloody lunatic and just as dodgy as –"

"Everyone else down there, yeah, your uncle said that," said Scorpius annoyed. "Does that make me dodgy too?"

"Of course not!" cried Rose. "How could you even say that? You know just as well, if not more –"

"If not more, hmm? So what, are you saying I go down there on a regular basis? Well I can assure you I don't."

"Stop cutting me off and putting words in my mouth!" said Rose angrily, her ears turning red. Always a danger sign. "All I'm saying is, everyone knows that Knockturn Alley isn't a place for children to be and as I explained, I went there by _accident._ I would never wander off like that after the park incident! I've learned my lesson!"

Scorpius stared at her as if calculating whether or not to believe her and Rose could not help but feel hurt at this. How could he not trust her? Did he honestly think that she would ever enter Knockturn Alley willingly?

"Okay, I'm sorry for doubting you," apologized Scorpius. "I just know – you seem to be sort of reckless of late and I don't want you to put yourself in danger. I would never get over it if something bad happened to you."

"You worry too much Scorp," smiled Rose. "I can take care of myself and I won't be doing anymore wandering alone. Not after that night Teddy found me. I _promise."_

Scorpius smiled and Rose asked, "Do you want to join us for lunch? I'm sure the others would love to have you join us!"

"I'm sorry, I have to go back to my father. I only came in here to purchase my books and I'm supposed to meet him in front of the Leaky Cauldron afterwards. I'll see you on Monday though."

They hugged and Rose watched as he left before marking her page and getting the rest of her books. After she paid for them, she left with the Potter men to go get the rest of her supplies.

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A/N: Please review!


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